(Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter)
A Marion County jury Tuesday found a man guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting two people in Salem in May 2019.
Curtis Welch, 30, was indicted in May 2019 on two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder in Marion County Circuit Court.
Welch was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of a lesser charge, first-degree manslaughter, in the deaths of Bradley Kelley and Michael Buntjer.
He was found not guilty of attempting to murder Coral Olfert.
Court records show no listed date for Welch’s sentencing.
The shooting occurred around 10:15 p.m. on May 6, 2019 in the 3600 block of Northeast Joshua Avenue. Kelley was found dead at the scene, while Buntjer later died from his injuries at the hospital. Olfert, of Salem, was treated for injuries, according to a news release the day after the shooting.
Welch and his brother, 25-year-old Keonte Caldwell, were later arrested in the Roseburg area.
Both men live in the Salem area and were “known to the victims,” the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in the news release.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office the following day ruled the deaths of Kelley and Buntjer as homicides, the news release said. Both victims were 35 and lived in Salem.
A Marion County grand jury also indicted Caldwell May 10, 2019 on two counts of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder.
His trial is scheduled to begin July 19.
-Ardeshir Tabrizian
