Teenager admits to Bush Park murder
A Salem teenager who fatally shot a classmate last spring in Bush’s Pasture Park admitted to a murder charge Friday in Marion County Juvenile Court, ending the criminal case for one of the city’s most high profile shootings in recent memory.
Nathaniel S. McCrae, 17, on Friday admitted to second-degree murder for shooting José Vázquez Valenzuela, 16, during a school day on March 7, 2024. Two other boys were wounded by gunfire. McCrae pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon as an adult, according to Brendan Murphy, Marion County’s chief deputy district attorney.
The agreement allows McCrae to avoid adult prison. Instead, he will serve his sentence at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, said Troy Gregg, Marion County juvenile department director. He can be held there until he is 25.
He was sentenced to 60 months with the state Department of Corrections for the adult charge, but will serve time for both charges at MacLaren.
“I think that this was a fair outcome for everyone involved,” McCrae’s lawyer Jeff Jorgensen said in an interview Friday. “I think the families of the victims, I think, were pretty upset about the resolution, and I would say the family of Nathaniel seemed pretty upset with the resolution as well.”
McCrae, who was 16 at the time, shot and killed José Vázquez Valenzuela, 16, on March 7, 2024, and wounded two other boys.
Prosecutors, police and school officials have said little since the shooting occurred about what led to the conflict, though it kickstarted widespread public conversations about gang violence in Salem and a need for better resources to engage young people who were turning to violence to solve conflicts.
Jorgensen declined to answer questions about the events that led to the shooting or potential gang affiliations.
Vázquez Valenzuela’s parents said in the months leading up to the shooting that it was clear their son was struggling, regularly skipping school and getting into fights. His mother, Aida Valenzuela, said their efforts to get help didn’t advance because authorities said their son didn’t have a juvenile record.
She’s active in efforts to help other moms whose sons are involved in gangs or violence.
McCrae was initially accused in Marion County Juvenile Court of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault and three counts of using a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors initially sought to prosecute him as an adult.
Prosecutors agreed to keep the murder charge in juvenile court because Oregon’s “exceedingly high legal standard makes adult convictions for youth rare and incredibly difficult to obtain,” the Marion County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Friday.
A state law change in 2019 sends every 15-, 16- and 17-year-old to juvenile court no matter the severity of their charges. Previously, older teenagers accused of serious crimes were automatically tried as adults.
“Oregonians deserve a fix regarding how we deal with juveniles who commit murder and other violent offenses,” Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson said in the statement. “The loss to the victim’s family is immeasurable and the impact on our community in this case was severe. The current law only serves to traumatize these victims further and is contrary to common sense and public safety.”
Vázquez Valenzuela’s family told the judge they did not believe the sentence was fair, the statement said. His parents, Valenzuela and Alvaro Vasquez, previously told Salem Reporter that they hoped McCrae would be tried as an adult.
Jorgensen said the agreement to a juvenile murder charge resulted from settlement negotiations this week.
The shooting led to a chaotic lockdown at South Salem High School, which sits just blocks from the park, after district security officials received an inaccurate report that the shooter had returned to campus with a gun.
District officials pushed to install weapon detectors at high schools soon after, rolling out a pilot at South in the months following the shooting and expanding to other district high schools last school year.
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Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. Contact Managing Editor Rachel Alexander: [email protected].
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Madeleine Moore joined Salem Reporter in 2024 and reports on a variety of topics including public safety, addiction, treatment and the criminal justice system. She came to Salem after graduating from the University of Oregon in June 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
