The 18-year-old son of a Lane County parole officer found his father's loaded gun unattended on a living room desk and used it to kill himself a short time later last year, a wrongful death lawsuit alleges.

The suit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Eugene by the estate of William Han Manstrom-Greening, names the father, Glenn Greening, and his employer, Lane County Parole and Probation, among others.

The teenager, a student at Eugene's Marist High School, killed himself in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day 2017.

William Han Manstrom-Greening, 18, a student at Marist High School in Eugene, killed himself with his father's loaded and unattended duty gun last year, a wrongful death lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges Lane County Parole and Probation shouldn't have allowed the teen's father to carry a gun. The agency had twice suspended Greening from carrying a firearm, in 2001 and 2004, after Greening harassed and threatened violence against co-workers and his wife, the suit says.

He also had a history of mental health diagnoses, including severe depression and bipolar disorder, the suit says.

In June 2012, the county reauthorized Greening to carry a firearm on duty.

On Feb. 13, 2017, Greening returned home from work and went to bed, leaving his duty Glock 19 loaded and unsecured on a living room desk though he had a gun safe at home and should have known that was the appropriate place to keep it, the suit alleges.

The suit cites Lane County's policy that directs employees never to leave their guns unsecure or unattended.

After the 18-year-old's death, the county took no disciplinary action against Greening, the suit says.

Greening had adopted the child. He and the adoptive mother, Carol Manstrom, a plaintiff in the suit, separated and divorced in 2001.

A month before the shooting, the 18-year-old's serious relationship with a girlfriend had ended, the suit says. The day before the shooting, the teen stayed home from school, complaining of flu-like symptoms, according to the suit.

The suit alleges that the teen's death resulted from Lane County's negligence and seeks unspecified economic and noneconomic damages.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian