Witnesses Recall Fear In Moments Before Shooting

from The Oregonian, by Emily Tsao

A Clackamas County deputy, workers and residents at the Chez Ami Apartments said they feared for one another's lives in the moments before the deputy shot and killed a mentally ill woman brandishing a knife.

One mental health worker locked herself in an office and hid under a desk. One resident who saw the ordeal said she feared the woman would stab the police officer and another worker.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office released their statements Thursday, about a month after a Clackamas County grand jury cleared Sgt. Paul Steigleder II of wrongdoing in the shooting of Joyce M. Staudenmaier, 49.

The shooting took place the morning of Sept. 3 at the Chez Ami Apartments, a complex near Clackamas Town Center for indigent people with mental illnesses.

Staudenmaier, who grew up in Lake Oswego, had been battling schizophrenia for nearly three decades. Friends and residents at the complex said she had been acting strangely months before the shooting.

Steigleder arrived at the apartments after Clackamas County Mental Health worker Martha Spiers requested police assistance to place Staudenmaier on a mental hold and bring her to Portland Adventist Medical Center.

Staudenmaier returned to the complex as workers were discussing her condition with Steigleder.

Spiers tried to explain to Staudenmaier what was happening, but she walked away and tried to return to her room, Steigleder told investigators.

Steigleder said he tried to tell Staudenmaier she could not go to her room. She then pulled out a knife.

Steigleder said he realized he was in trouble. "And it's like I'm going to get stabbed. I mean I'm like . . . way too close to her, and I'm like 'Wow,' " he told investigators.

As he tried to back away from Staudenmaier, Steigleder found himself backed up against a large glass wall. He said he drew his gun and told Staudenmaier to drop the knife. Staudenmaier swung at Steigleder once and then retreated to another section of the lobby.

Steigleder said he feared she would harm other people in the lobby and repeatedly ordered her to drop the knife.

"I thought she was going to kill that gal," Steigleder said. "She wouldn't drop the knife. And so I shot her."

Deputy Robert Weinert, who responded immediately after the shooting, found Steigleder bent down beside her saying, "Come on, Joyce, hang in there," according to police reports.

A resident who witnessed the shooting said she saw Steigleder start crying. "I felt sorry for him," Diane Millican told police.

Staudenmaier died in surgery at OHSU Hospital that morning.

Steigleder returned to work early this month and has resumed normal duties, said sheriff's spokesman Joel Manley.