A Marion County grand jury found a Salem police corporal justified in shooting and injuring a man who was a suspect in a series of shootings at occupied police vehicles.
The grand jury on May 9 indicted Andrew E. Kjostad, 34, on three counts of attempted aggravated murder, three counts of unlawful use of a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and felony attempting to elude a police officer, the Marion County District’s Attorney’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.
When officers attempted to arrest Kjostad on May 1, he was a suspect in three shootings in the span of a few hours the previous day, two in east Salem.
The Salem Police Department’s SWAT team attempted to arrest Kjostad around 5:48 a.m. after spotting him walking along Northeast Fisher Road, near Northeast Market Street.
Kjostad tried to flee and drew a gun, the district attorney’s office said. Salem police Cpl. Adam Waite shot Kjostad once.
The Oregon State Police at the time released an account of the shootings and the pursuit which resulted in police shooting Kjostad the following morning.
According to that statement, the Woodburn Police Department responded to a report of shots fired around 5 p.m. April 30 on Young Street in downtown Woodburn.
Then, at 7:38 p.m., a man shot at a Marion County Sheriff’s Office car on patrol on Northeast Lancaster Drive, striking the car.
About a minute later, two Salem police officers were patrolling Northeast Silverton Road when they heard multiple popping noises. A traffic camera captured a driver of the same vehicle shooting toward the officers, and a witness reported seeing the man shoot at least twice from the driver’s seat.
No officers were harmed during the shootings or while arresting Kjostad.
Oregon State police investigated the police shooting.
Kjostad is being held on a $1 million bail, the district attorney’s office said. He’s scheduled to appear in court May 15.
Waite is a member of the department’s SWAT team and was one of five officers who on Jan. 23 shot and killed Michael J. Compton in a morning gunfight in a south Salem business district.
He was one of three officers who shot and killed 16-year-old Robert Brown last July after Brown fired at officers during an arrest attempt.
A grand jury found Waite and other officers justified in both prior shootings.
Kjostad pleaded guilty in 2013 to felony failure to report as a sex offender in Marion County, and in 2021 to a misdemeanor failure to report as a sex offender, court records show.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
JUST THE FACTS, FOR SALEM – We report on your community with care and depth, fairness and accuracy. Get local news that matters to you. Subscribe to Salem Reporter. Click I want to subscribe!
Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
