Man killed by trooper slipped threatening note to guard at Salem’s Army training center, police say

Matthew W. Wong slipped a threatening note to a guard outside a U.S. Army airfield in southeast Salem just before a confrontation with a state trooper who shot and killed him, according to the Marion County District Attorney’s Office.

The agency in a news release Thursday night identified Wong, 22, as well as the senior Oregon State Police trooper who shot him, Justin Oxenrider. 

State police responded around 10 a.m. Thursday to a report that a man, later identified as Wong, provided a threatening note to a guard stationed outside the Governor Ted Kulongoski Army Aviation Training Center at 1921 Turner Rd. S.E., adjacent to the Salem airport.

The computer-aided dispatch report notified Oxenrider that a man at the guard shack handed the caller a note “saying I will give you 10 minutes to decide, something about laying down arms,” according to the news release.

The report indicated that it was the second time Wong had appeared at the location in the last three days.

“The trooper contacted the suspect outside the guard station. A confrontation ensued and shots were fired,” the district attorney’s office wrote in the statement. Wong was declared dead at the scene.

The shooting occurred near the facility’s security gate.

Police provided no details about the confrontation but said “the suspect’s open knife was located at the scene” and no officers were injured during the incident.

Wong at the time had an active warrant for his arrest related to a criminal charge of unlawful use of a weapon.

A Marion County grand jury indicted him on the single count in April 2024. The charge alleged that he attempted to use a knife “against another person,” according to the indictment. 

Court records showed Wong lived about a mile from where he was killed. 

DA’s office coordinated with the Salem Police Department to contact Wong’s next of kin and are providing his family services through a family support liaison with the DA’s office, the police statement said.

Oxenrider has been a state trooper for 18 years and is currently a K9 Trooper. His police dog, which “detects explosives and is not used for enforcement purposes,” was present in the trooper’s vehicle during the shooting.

Marion County’s response plan for police use of deadly force requires that an agency not involved in a fatal police shooting has to investigate it. Salem police detectives are working with the district attorney’s office on the investigation.

When the investigation concludes, it will be sent to the DA’s office to present to a grand jury, which will determine whether the trooper’s use of deadly force was legally justified.

“No further information will be released at this time to preserve the grand jury’s official inquiry,” and all future information will come from the DA’s office after it presents evidence to the grand jury, police said.

CORRECTION: This story was updated to reflect that the Marion County District Attorney’s Office issued the news release. An earlier version incorrectly reported which agency the statement came from. Salem Reporter apologizes for the error.

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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