Crime And Courts

DCSO says he was drunk, fired shot in air from home's driveway

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- An intoxicated Redmond man who allegedly fired a shot in the air after an argument with his girlfriend was arrested Saturday evening after a call-out of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, including an armored tactical vehicle, deputies said.

Deschutes County 911 dispatchers received a call of shortly before 7 p.m. of shots fired in the area of Northwest 39th Street and Spruce Avenue, Lt. Ty Rupert said.

The caller said Scott Wayne Clifton, 33, was sitting in his pickup in the driveway of their home with a handgun and had fired a shot into the air, Rupert said.

Sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police troopers responded to the area, as well as SWAT Team members and Redmond Fire medics, who were staged nearby.

Deputies learned there were four people in the home and a man in his pickup in the driveway with a handgun in his lap.

A 911 dispatcher contacted the people in the home by phone and were able to direct them outside to waiting deputies, Rupert said.

Once they were safely out of the home, deputies began giving verbal commands to Clifton, who initially complied but became combative with deputies while being taken into custody, according to the lieutenant.

The handgun and several other firearms were found in the pickup, Rupert said. Deputies determined Clifton was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident and had been in a verbal altercation with his girlfriend.

Clifton was taken to the county jail in Bend and lodged on charges of unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and resisting arrest. He remained held early Sunday on $20,000 bail.