Last week?s fatal shooting of a child abductor near Sweet Home once again proves the world is changing, even in rural Oregon.
We are often distanced from the events in Portland, when protestors take to the street or when a police officer has to use his firearm.
?I?m glad I don?t live in the city,? we say to ourselves.
Early Friday morning, we were reminded that although we are at the corner of the urban world, we still exist within it.
Over the last 33 years, we have been present at dozens of drug raids or when warrants have been executed. In the ?old days? we would barge right into the scene behind the police officers. They had guns, we had a camera. Those days are long gone.
Sometimes, events are relatively calm but at others, one?s heart is pounding so loudly you?d bet someone standing 10 feet away could hear it. That?s especially true at night, when one can?t get a good 360 degree visual of what?s around him.
That?s what must have been going through the minds of our Linn County Deputies when they made their way along that lonely logging road toward the 1999 Ford Ranger pickup spotted earlier in the day by Sweet Home hunters Mike and Michael Lattrell and Matt Dixon.
?What made this guy take his girlfriend?s child??
?Is he using some sort of illicit drug??
?Is he armed??
?Will he fire the weapon??
All of those questions have to be answered not in minutes but seconds.
And the perpetrator gets to make the choice. Will he end the bad situation now by surrendering peacefully or escalate it into a nightmare?
Jeff Eggiman chose the nightmare.
According to the Marion County Sheriff?s Office, which is conducting the investigation into the event, Jeff Eggiman was armed, and he did choose to fire that weapon.
His first mistake was taking the child without his girlfriend?s permission.
His second mistake was using a firearm on an officer of the law. The first mistake would have merely landed him in jail. The second landed him in a casket.
Although he paid the price, his actions also cost the deputies, for they will forever have to live with the results of the unfortunate choices made by Eggiman.
To both deputies, we say thank you. In a very trying situation, you made decisions none of us would want to make.
Tanner Kahn is home with his mother in Mt. Angel and two Linn County men charged with keeping our families safe at night, are still alive.
Our thanks also to Matt Dixon and Mike and Michael Lattrell for their actions after realizing they had spoken with Eggiman on Thursday.
God bless all of them.