Armed Oregon woman holds suspected arsonist at gunpoint until cops arrive
As wildfires rage along the West Coast, law enforcement has nabbed several suspected arsonists, including multiple arrests in Oregon.
One armed Oregonian was ready to defend her property — and her state — from the actions of a suspected would-be arsonist, and now her story is going viral on social media.
What happened?
Kat Cast posted a video to Facebook over the weekend showing her taking action to get a man she believed to be an arsonist off her property, on the ground, and eventually into the back of a police vehicle and the local clink.
In the video, Cast can been seen getting out of her car with gun drawn and approaching a suspicious man who was walking on her property.
According to Cast's Facebook post, she said she found the man walking on her property as she was driving in. All he was carrying was a book of matches, Cast stated.
Some of you still think we're not being under attack. I found this individual walking in my property as I was driving in, all he had were some matches in his hand. Walked him out of my property at gunpoint and then when we got to some asphalt ground on the main road made him lay down while the cops arrived.
In the video, the suspect lies down on the road as Cast approaches him, shouting, "Get on the floor. Get on the floor right now — face down."
"What are you doing on my property?" she asks, to which the suspect replies that he didn't know it was her property.
"Did you light anything on fire?" she continues.
"No, ma'am," he replies.
Then she demands to know what he's doing with the book of matches, and he claims he smokes.
"You smoke? Where are your f***ing cigarettes?" the woman demands to know.
Turns out he didn't have any cigarettes — just matches he was carrying around in his hand while strolling along her property.
Cast tells the suspect to stay on the ground because the police were on their way: "You can just stay right there. I've got the cops coming'."
Content warning: rough language
Shortly after the video stopped, Cast said, cops did arrive and take the man into custody.
According to Cast's Facebook post, the suspect has "multiple warrants one of them being assaulting a police officer."
Cast also made it clear that the suspect should consider himself lucky that she found him and not her husband.
"Had my husband been here he would have been dead," she wrote.
Blowback and encouragement
In an update to her post, Cast noted that many people, including the media, had been reaching out to her about the story. Many, she said, doubted her story and said it looked staged, but most of the comments were supportive.
Because she did not want more stress put on her family, she said she would not be talking to the media about the incident.
I read all your msgs to me, even the private ones, I can tell you that this truly did happen and there is nothing fake about it, I do not wish to keep private msgs between you and I, not with you or the dozens of people who are reaching out to me. Some with terrifying words, but mostly I am truly humbled by many kind words that have been said to me. I do not wish to speak to anyone, it doesn't matter to me if it's a journalist who wants to put out on the news, I will not put my family in danger by exposing myself any more than what I have already, besides the media will just twist my words. Feel free to use the pictures that you have obtained if you want but I will not interview with anyone. I will tell you something though if I need to do this again to protect my family and my neighbors, I will in a heartbeat do it again, except this time I will not be as nice as I was. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." In all things, may the victory come to us while the glory goes to God. Blessings -Kat.
'You loot, we shoot': Armed property owners in Oregon threaten would-be lawbreakers amid wildfires
Some residents in Clackamas County, Oregon, have taken to posting roadside signs warning potential lawbreakers that if they're caught looting or setting fires, they may find themselves facing the wrong end of a gun — and feeling the pain of a bullet.
KPTV-TV's lead news photographer Devin Eskew encountered a number of such warning signs as the state battles huge wildfires:
Some of the many warnings residents have posted between Colton and Estacada. @fox12oregon https://t.co/gOstHelXH0— Devin Eskew (@Devin Eskew)1599945638.0
https://t.co/XZFN6j4AfF— Devin Eskew (@Devin Eskew)1599945688.0
How are folks reacting to the signs?
While KPTV-TV reported on the posted warning signs and the Riverside Fire's devastation, the station didn't speak to locals who might have reactions to the messages on the signs in Estacada and Colton.
But folks reacting on Twitter to Eskew's photos of the signs had a few things to say. Some were flat-out against the signs:
- "I say, let their damned houses burn," one commenter said. "These guys won't be missed. #LetTheMAGAtsDie. (I used to be a much kinder person before Trump...)"
- "Those white trash losers don't even own anything worth looting," another commenter wrote.
It seemed, however, that quite a few more users were in support of the signs:
- "I support this completely," one commenter countered. "If these lawless criminals can bend the law and do what they want, so can everyone else."
- "Anybody who would loot peoples' homes during a wildfire emergency is a pretty terrible human," another commenter added. "As for them putting up signs warning those same trash humans away, guess they can't say they weren't warned."
- "ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT," another commenter said. "Anyone caught should be dealt with appropriately. We all know the Dems would just say, 'Poor non-gender [person] needs things, too. Be nice to it and talk to it; it will come around.' Do what needs to be done to protect your homes."
- "It is a sad world we live in that one has to choose to stay within danger to protect property from looters," another commenter noted. "There was a time when people helped each other, not [stole] from each other. Our society has bred people who think they are entitled to help themselves to whatever they want."
Anything else?
Clackamas County deputies confirmed Saturday they have made two theft-related arrests in the fire zones, the station said, adding that one was in Mulino and another in the eastern portion of the county.
'You loot we shoot': Signs threaten looters in Clackamas County fire zonesyoutu.be
Men accused of looting homes in Oregon's wildfire evacuation zone take deputies on crazy chase through golf course
Deputies have arrested two men who they believe were looting homes in Oregon that had been evacuated due to the deadly wildfires on the West Coast.
The Beachie Creek Fire, which is smoldering in Clackamas and Marion Counties south of Portland, has burned 186,856 acres. In Marion County, officials have ordered 13,764 structures to be evacuated because they are at a Level 3 evacuation, which means "evacuate now" because there is current or imminent danger for the area.
Devastating video from Mill City, taken by a @MCSOInTheKnow deputy. A huge section of the Santiam Canyon is under e… https://t.co/qpSvcYlJTa— Hannah Ray Lambert (@Hannah Ray Lambert)1599591398.0
OREGON: a family flees near Detroit Lake. A seriously frightening & fiery experience while also showcasing the brav… https://t.co/9cCAG3FZgl— ELIJAH RIOT (@ELIJAH RIOT)1599631980.0
With so many homes having been evacuated because of the massive fires, two Oregon men apparently tried to capitalize on the devastating natural disaster. Anthony Travis Bodda, 21, and Alexander Justin Jones, 36, were accused by police of looting evacuated homes in Marion County and taking deputies on a wild high-speed chase.
On Thursday, firefighting crews alerted police to a suspicious van in the towns of Detroit and Idahna, and were concerned that the vehicle could be involved with recent looting in the area.
Deputies responded just after 10 a.m. on Thursday, and the van drove off "at a high rate of speed." Deputies from Marion and Linn Counties, as well as Oregon State Police, pursued the van in the Beachie Creek wildfire evacuation zone. The men attempted to ditch police by driving through a golf course.
Police used spike strips to disable the vehicle, then the men jumped out of the van and ran through the golf course. A police dog chased down the suspects. One was attempting to break into a home to escape the cops when he was apprehended. The other man was also tracked down by a K9 unit as he was entering a goat shed, according to police.
Bodda and Jones were both booked at the Marion County Jail and charged with attempted theft in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, felony elude, misdemeanor elude, reckless driving, interfering with a peace officer, possession of a burglary tool, reckless endangering, criminal mischief in the first degree, and criminal trespass in the second degree.
Sheriff officials said several stolen items were found inside the van. Bodda and Jones are also responsible for $1,500 in damage to the golf course, according to Fox News.
"I am disappointed that while in a state of emergency these people would victimize members of our community," Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast said. "The women and men of the Marion County Sheriff's Office are committed to holding people accountable if they chose to victimize residents from our evacuated areas."
He added that his officers would continue to patrol the evacuated areas to prevent any looting.
People in Oregon have said that their homes were looted during the deadly wildfires.
"Everything had been rifled through," said Christy Beaver from Junction City. "Drawers were open. Stuff was all over. Credit cards and checkbooks were missing. We're not sure what else is missing because we haven't been able to go back up there."
Blue River resident Marcie Costa said that she lost her home in the Holiday Farm Fire. Her neighbor's home survived the fire, but possession worth more than $1,000 were stolen, including a generator.
"We've suffered enough these people have suffered enough," Costa said. "We don't need to be victimized anymore from someone who don't give a stuff about us."
"We understand that OSP and the Sheriff's Department are doing the best that they can," Costa said. "But they're spread so thin."
Rumors of widespread looting caused 300 people to attempt to return to their homes inside the fiery evacuation zone. The concerned residents left the Super 8 hotel in Redmond on Thursday to inspect their properties for fire damage and looting.
"All across the region, we are asking folks to please respect those closures," said Kassidy Kern, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service. "Not just for the security of your personal property, but also for firefighters working in the area."
More than 85 wildfires are scorching the US West Coast in 'once-in-a-generation event'
More than 85 wildfires are burning through hundreds of thousands of acres up and down the West Coast in California, Oregon, and Washington in what many are calling an unprecedented event, CNN reported early Wednesday.
Literally the entire Western U.S. is on fire and not in the figurative sense of literally. By the way, that isn't c… https://t.co/HmERrYqvNp— Alisha Grauso (@Alisha Grauso)1599626703.0
What are the details?
"We have fires burning in the north part of the state all the way down to the Mexican border, about 800 miles between the furthest distant fires, so we're stretched across the landscape," Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said of the 25 fires currently burning in California.
Gusty wind conditions and high temperatures in the state are further exacerbating the situation. Authorities warned that the winds could soon drive the fires already burning into "new ferocity."
85+ large wildfires are raging across California, Oregon and Washington.▪️ OR: schools closed, 3 prisons evacuate… https://t.co/NnrboGADwV— AJ+ (@AJ+)1599653092.0
A similar situation is playing out in Oregon, as thousands of residents have been placed under evacuation orders as fast-moving fires sweep through the state, already scorching 230,000 acres.
On Tuesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) issued an emergency declaration in hopes of getting more resources to local responders to battle the fires.
During a news conference, Brown called the situation "unprecedented" and a "once-in-a-generation event."
Wildfire nightmare unfolding tonight in Oregon. https://t.co/KfcLrvbyVK— Dakota Smith (@Dakota Smith)1599625616.0
Oregon wildfires making it look straight apocalyptic.... https://t.co/HtO9CXxJF9— Domenico (@Domenico)1599628813.0
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) also referred to the situation as "unprecedented." He told reporters that on Monday alone, 330,000 acres had burned in Washington state, which is more than had burned in the state's past 12 fire seasons.
The magnitude of the devastation was especially felt in the small farming town of Maiden, where 80% of the town's buildings were destroyed by a fire.
Inslee also pressed the issue of unnecessary human contribution in causing the fires.
"I just can't reiterate [it enough], we think almost all of these fires were human-caused, in some dimension," the governor said. "If you can avoid being outside for anything that would even cause a spark, I hope people can avoid those conditions."
One fire in California made headlines on Monday after it was reported that the blaze — which ended up scorching 7,300 acres — was the result of a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party.
Anything else?
Just how widespread the problem is can be seen in a screenshot of the National Weather Service's homepage.
As of Wednesday morning, huge chunks of the country's West Coast, extending from the Canadian border in the north to the Mexican border in the south, were under "red flag warnings" (shown below in magenta), indicating critical fire conditions.
Red flag warnings mean that "critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly."
In the warning, the NWS notes that "a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior."
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