Salem police open fire on suspect who drove motorhome into patrol cars

Update:

Four Salem police officers opened fire on a suspect who drove a large motorhome into two patrol cars Saturday, police said.

Early Saturday afternoon, Roy Victor Devoursney, 61, was speeding in a motorhome down Highway 22 close to Lancaster Drive SE, cutting other vehicles off and driving erratically, police said.

Devoursney, of Salem, was in the motorhome on Kansas Avenue NE when responding officers found him. He drove the motorhome into the patrol vehicle of Salem police Cpl. Andrew Connolly so hard the airbags deployed, police said. Devoursney drove away.

Another Salem police officer, Cpl. Mark Seyfried, found the motorhome along D Street NE, but Devoursney put it in reverse and hit Seyfried's vehicle, fleeing again, police said.

To stop the motorhome, authorities deployed spike strips that blew out some of its tires. The motorhome came to a stop along Hawthorne Avenue NE, to the south of Market Street NE, police said.

Devoursney left the motorhome but didn’t comply with authorities, so he was tased and taken into custody.

Cpl. Connolly, Cpl. Seyfried, as well as Sgt. James Welsh and Officer Pence Hodges, opened fire on Devoursney over the course of the incident, police said.

Police said Devoursney wasn't hit with bullets.

The officers involved will be placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure while the investigation is ongoing.

"This leave is not disciplinary in nature, but is common in situations where officers become involved in extremely traumatic events in the line of duty," police said.

Cpl. Connolly and Cpl. Seyfried were taken to Salem Hospital, as was Devoursney, to treat injuries they suffered as events unfolded.

Affected roads have re-opened.

Oregon State Police and the Marion County District Attorney’s Office will coordinate and conduct an investigation.

"This is standard procedure for the Salem Police Department to request the Oregon State Police conduct an independent investigation of incidents of this nature," police said.

Police encourage any person with information pertinent to the investigation to call Oregon State Police at 503-375-3555.

End of update

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Original story:

An officer-involved shooting in Salem left a number of patrol cars damaged, a number of suspects detained and multiple city and residential streets closed Saturday afternoon.

Salem police announced the on-duty shooting just after 3 p.m. They did not release any details on how many officers discharged their patrol guns, how many suspects fired their guns, or the extent of injuries, if any, as of Saturday evening.

"It's a fluid situation," said Lt. Dave Okada said. "So it's going to take us doing interviews and talking to people to reconstruct what happened."

Officials are investigating at three separate scenes where multiple officers were involved at each location. There were damaged patrol vehicles at each scene.

Although individuals were detained, no formal arrests had been made as of 6 p.m. in connection with the incident. Okada did not state how many suspects were detained or identify the individuals.

"We believe we have everybody who was involved," Okada said.

At the Hawthorne Ave NE scene, a Ford Holiday Rambler vehicle was pulled over to the far right lane and had a number of flat tires. What appeared to be one bullet hole could be seen on the motorhome's front window.

A Salem Police patrol car rested just a few hundred feet away after it appeared to have driven over the curb and into a wooden sign before coming to a stop in front of Pietro's Pizza on Hawthorne Ave. A pair of jeans with a belt still attached lay in the middle of the road nearby.

It was unclear if the motorhome and patrol vehicles came to a stop following a police pursuit.

About a mile away, two additional crime scenes closed down residential streets in Salem. Okada did not state how or if the three scenes were related.

At least one Salem Police patrol vehicle was damaged on Breys Ave. NE, with the driver door still swung open late in the afternoon. Glass and debris littered the ground underneath the nose of the patrol vehicle.

Just over a block from the Breys Ave. scene, on Kansas St. NE, at least one other Salem Police patrol vehicle was damaged.

Oregon State Police vehicles blocked traffic into the residential neighborhood.

State police officials set up a mobile command unit on Kansas St. NE between 18th St. NE and 20th St. NE, where officials were still investigating the scene at 5 p.m.

Officials are currently interviewing officers, according to Okada.

"We're just trying to compile all the information," Okada said. "We just don't want to release any information at this point that we can't corroborate."

Following Salem Police's policy, Oregon State Police is investigating the officer-involved shooting. Marion County District Attorney officials are also on the scene.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Reach Lauren Hernandez at lehernande@statesmanjournal.com or call 503-983-6030, or follow on Twitter @LaurenPorFavor.

Reach Abby Luschei at aluschei@statesmanjournal.com or call 503-399-6747, or follow on Twitter @abbyluschei.

Reach Jonathan Bach at jbach@statesmanjournal.com or call 503-399-6714, or follow on Twitter @JonathanMBach.

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