In the pre-dawn hours of November 9, 2024, Ryan Dale Burchell, a 50-year-old White man, was shot and killed on a residential street in Roseburg, Oregon. Police responded to the 1200 block of Southeast Hamilton Street at approximately 3:15 a.m. after receiving multiple reports of gunfire. Officers arrived to find Mr. Burchell lying on a retaining wall, groaning in pain from several gunshot wounds. He told them he was cold but was unable to give a statement about what had happened.
Police began life-saving efforts until paramedics took over and transported him to CHI Mercy Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries around 9:20 a.m.
The man identified as the shooter, 25-year-old Austin Adrian Wall, was still at the scene when police arrived. During questioning, Wall, who was described by police as very intoxicated, told investigators that the encounter began when Mr. Burchell approached him and asked for a cigarette. Wall claimed that he told Mr. Burchell to leave him alone, but that Mr. Burchell then offered him drugs and alcohol. According to Wall, he became concerned by Mr. Burchell’s strange behavior and set off his car alarm to attract attention. When a neighbor yelled at him to turn it off, Wall said he told them to call 911. He alleged that Mr. Burchell then punched him twice in the face.
Wall told police he had an injured arm and a splint on his finger, which he claimed prevented him from physically defending himself, so he shot Mr. Burchell. He said he then set his weapon down and called the police. Investigators, however, determined that shooting Mr. Burchell was not a reasonable response to being punched. Wall was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder and booked into the Douglas County Jail. The Douglas County Major Crimes Team, a task force composed of local and state law enforcement agencies, was activated to lead a comprehensive investigation into the shooting.
The case was contested for over a year, during which Wall maintained that he had acted in self-defense. The legal proceedings involved several motions and an appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court before the defense and the District Attorney’s Office reached an agreement. Wall, then 26, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminally negligent homicide. A judge in Douglas County Circuit Court accepted the plea and sentenced him. Investigators were never able to determine why Ryan Burchell was in that neighborhood, though his truck was also found parked nearby. With the plea and sentencing, the case was officially closed.
