PORTLAND – The Clackamas County district attorney’s office says county deputies will not face criminal charges in the death of an elderly Boring, Ore., woman who died in July after she was shot by a stun gun.
Deputies used a stun gun to disarm 87-year-old Phyllis A. Owens as she brandished what they believed was a semi-automatic handgun at a mobile home park.
The park manager had told dispatchers that Owens pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot him.
After Owens collapsed, deputies determined she was carrying a pellet gun.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Healy said the pellet gun was “indistinguishable” at a distance from a firearm.
He said the deputies, believing Owens was a threat, would have been justified in shooting her, but tried a less-lethal measure.
