BEND, OR -- Seven people and 10 agencies were honored last week for their work in the aftermath of last year’s deadly shooting inside Safeway at the Forum Shopping Center. The ceremony was in coordination with Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Those recognizes are from the following agencies:
- City of Bend Police Department
- Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office
- City of Redmond Police Department
- Sunriver Police Department
- Oregon State Police
- Crook County Sheriff’s Office
- Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office
- Deschutes County 9-11 Dispatch
- City of Bend Fire Department
- City of Redmond Fire Department
- St. Charles Medical Center
- Oregon State Police Crime Lab
- Oregon Department of Transportation
- Deschutes County Behavioral Health
- Central Oregon Police Chaplaincy
Ashley Beatty, Director of Victims’ Services at the Deschutes County District Attorney's Office, says it’s important to recognize the response, from the 911 operators who took calls from victims inside the store, to the officers and firefighters who rushed in and the mental health professionals who checked in with employees weeks later.
Included among the individual honorees: Molly Wells-Darling, St. Charles’ Director of Behavioral Health, and Shannon Brister and Tara Hare, with Deschutes County Behavioral Health. Beatty says they were instrumental in coordinating the Community Assistance Center that provided free mental health support to those directly impacted by the shooting. Click HERE for more information about the Victims' Services office.
Beatty talked with KBND News about the importance of supporting victims and those who responded to the shooting in August 2022:
