Veteran Cop Revealed as Gunman in Murder/Suicide

Jeffrey Grahn was a patrol Sergeant with the Clackamas Sheriff's Office for the last 15 years.

Location of deadly shooting. Courtesy: Google Earth

(SALEM, Ore,) - A veteran Clackamas Sheriffs sergeant was the gunman who shot two people to death and wounded a third in a restaurant Friday night, before turning the weapon on himself.

Media reports indicate that the matter stemmed from a divorce between the dead assailant, 46-year old Jeffrey Grahn of Boring. and his wife, 47-year old Charlotte Grahn, who was mortally wounded in the shooting that took place inside the M&M restaurant on North Main Street in Gresham.

Jeffrey Grahn reportedly entered the establishment where his wife was having a drink with two friends and opened fire, killing himself after shooting the three women.

Detective Jim Strovink, with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, says, "startled Clackamas County Sheriff's Office personnel and our community were made aware of a tragic death investigation being conducted by investigators of the Gresham Police Department."

This heartbreaking event has resulted in multiple victims in addition to the Grahns.

One is 53-year old Kathleen Hoffmeister of Gresham who died from a gunshot wound; the other is 53-year old Victoria Schulmerich of Gresham, who was transported to OHSU with a gunshot wound in Critical Condition.

A blog called glocktalk.com which appears to be frequented by members of law enforcement, has inside information going back and forth over this one. A post from the moderator reads, "Sadly, the comment boards in the local media are blowing up with rants by cop haters. Just a reminder to take care of yourselves and each other both on and off the job."

The incident rings of similar tragic stories involving American combat veterans, who often 'snap' for a lack of better terms, and turn violent toward others, and even more often, toward themselves.

These cases are generally related to a common condition among seasoned combat vets, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Anyone who doesn't think police and fire and ambulance personnel don't deal with this in huge ways, needs to reconsider their opinion.

Nobody will ever know what was going through this man's mind in the last moments of his life, but the incident is proof that police sometimes need more frequent intervention and treatment from mental health professionals, and whether it is emergency services or military, these individuals should always be able to seek help without putting their careers at risk. Two of the comments below reflect a person who never would have committed such an act.

Gresham Shooting Victims

A forum member using the name Peper45 said:

"Jeff was my first EVOC instructor, and took me under his wing when I was first off of FTEP. At one time, he was a GREAT cop. What happened last night is so far out of character for him, I was disbelieving of the first reports I heard. The Jeff that I know, wasn't in that restaurant last night, I have no idea what happened to him, but he wasn't there."

"My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those poor women, and Jeff's kids. This has to be a nightmare for them."

But another participant called Dragoon44, had less sympathy:

"He is not an officer down. he is just a murderer that took his own life after killing other people."

One participant using the name Stopdropandroll was an apparent friend of the dead lawman:

"Also knew Jeff...Every day I ever spent with him, he was a caring, concerned lawman and a good guy to have on deck. This is a terribly sad senseless, ...there are no words or answers. My thoughts go out to his 4 children and every one of our lawmen, who still had to go to work and just do their jobs today...."

On the KATU Website, comments go both ways, with one obviously frustrated comment reading:

"There are simply too many "loose cannons" and gung ho cops who have no business wearing the uniform. I'm glad he killed himself, except for now his kids have no parents."

Another comment on this site is chilling:

"My uncle & his wife were there last night & they were within feet of the woman who was shot in the head and died on scene. My uncle was very traumatized by the event and still in shock. This is such a tragic event & my condolences go out to the families of these women."

Regardless of opinions and comments, this is nothing less than a senseless tragedy. I've known Jim Strovink for many years, and I know that all of their hearts are breaking over this.

He said, "Our devoted members of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office wish to express and extend their sincere condolences to ALL the victim families involved that have received the blazing brunt of this heartbreaking event."

Jim Strovink said Jeffrey Grahn was first hired by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office in February, 1995, and promoted to the rank of Sergeant in August, 2003.

Pronounced dead at the scene from an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound. Jeffrey Grahn was a patrol Sergeant with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office and was employed there for the last 15 years.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com