Nine days after an Oregon State Police trooper shot and killed a carjacking suspect on Interstate 5 outside Salem, a Marion County grand jury unanimously concluded the deadly force was justified.
Evidence presented to the grand jury included testimony from 12 witnesses, autopsy results and video and photographs from the scene. The Salem Police Department led the investigation, which closed two miles of the interstate for 10 hours on April 10, the day of the shooting.
Just before 9 a.m. that day, Trooper Andrew Tuttle pulled over while driving northbound on I-5 after spotting a stalled semi-trailer truck. That’s when he saw its driver being held up at gunpoint, he told investigators.
Tuttle, a U.S. Navy veteran, has worked for Oregon State Police since 2016.
The trooper’s body-worn camera and his patrol car’s dashboard camera captured the encounter in its entirety.
As he pulled up to the semi-trailer, Tuttle saw a man – later identified as 31-year-old Felipe Amezcua Manzo – in the road with a gun in his hand, he said. Manzo was trying to force open the passenger door of the truck, and he appeared to point the gun at the truck driver and also at the driver of a nearby SUV who had pulled over, Tuttle said.
When Manzo noticed Tuttle, he started to run east toward a CarMax lot adjacent to I-5.
Tuttle turned on his patrol-car lights and sirens and pulled out his gun as he stepped from the car, according to his account of the incident.
Manzo ran to the highway’s grass shoulder and down into a ditch, the video from Tuttle’s body-worn camera shows. The trooper yelled at the suspect to “get on the ground” at least six times, the video shows, but the man ignored the commands and kept moving away from the officer.
Tuttle followed the suspect into the ditch. That’s when Manzo turned around, aimed the gun at the Oregon State Police trooper and started firing. Tuttle returned fire.
In the video from the body-worn camera, several shots can be heard.
The trooper felt something hit his left arm, he later told investigators, and he started back up the incline to the side of I-5, trying to gain cover from the gunfire.
As Tuttle retreated, he continued to return fire, unloading the remaining rounds in his gun’s chamber.
When Tuttle ran back to his patrol car for cover and to reload his gun, he saw Manzo aiming at him and fire again. This time, he noticed a “blue light or laser” coming from Manzo’s gun. It momentarily blinded him, Tuttle said. He yelled again, three times, “Get on the ground!”
Tuttle fired back but Manzo kept moving toward him, he said.
The trooper reloaded a third time from behind his patrol car and fired at the suspect at least 10 more times.
Manzo fell to the grass, Tuttle said. The body camera footage doesn’t show this.
Tuttle called dispatch for the first time since the shootout began, said “shots fired” and that the suspect was down.
More officers arrived on the scene less than a minute later, the video shows. An Oregon State Police trooper checked Tuttle for any wounds. Tuttle had an abrasion on his left arm that didn’t require medical attention. It’s unclear if he was grazed by a bullet or hurt when he fell in the ditch as he retreated from Manzo, according to the Marion County District Attorney’s office, which sent out a news release about the grand-jury findings Wednesday evening.
Manzo was shot in the chest, back and head, according to the report. Officers on the scene tried to provide medical aid, but he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy later confirmed Manzo died from six gunshot wounds.
At the scene, a gun with a laser sight and blue light were found next to Manzo’s body, police said. Police also found a “vehicle associated” with Manzo at the scene.
The investigation revealed that, in total, Tuttle fired 47 shots and Manzo fired 13 during the exchange, police said.
Before the shootout with Tuttle, video from a camera affixed to the semi-truck recorded Manzo pointing his gun at several cars on the interstate.
Manzo had at least six previous felony convictions in Oregon and California dating to 2010, including for second-degree robbery, third and fourth-degree assault and driving under the influence of intoxicants.
The grand jury wasn’t informed of his criminal record, the Marion County District Attorney’s office said.
The grand jury determined Tuttle’s use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself and others after Manzo had committed or attempted to commit a violent felony. After Manzo didn’t comply with the trooper’s commands, no additional alternatives, such as verbal de-escalation, were possible in the circumstance, the jury concluded.
Since 2019, Oregon State Police troopers have fatally shot seven people.
