Last year, the Washington lady who fired rounds at Portland’s airport in what she claimed was an attempt to stop her evil thoughts of killing her family was found guilty of shooting the pistol and causing property damage but was exonerated of the most serious charges.
Before Monday’s four-day trial, there was little question that Laura Patterson had shot twice into a glass ceiling panel at a security checkpoint at Portland International Airport at approximately 11 p.m. on November 14, 2023.
However, the jury found Patterson not guilty of four counts of unlawful use of a weapon, and Multnomah County Circuit Judge Benjamin Souede dismissed the four attempted murder charges on the grounds that Patterson was taking specific actions to murder her family.
In a video that was shown in court following her arrest, Patterson stated, “I don’t know, I just feel like I’m crazy, and that this was the least crazy thing to do.”Perhaps all I want is to be locked up.
She was convicted of several gun-related offenses, such as possessing a handgun in a public place, reckless endangerment, and first-degree criminal mischief.
While Patterson spent four hours browsing Reddit and solving crossword puzzles near the D and E terminals, some of the 1,500 cameras at the airport captured the events leading up to the shooting.
She ran into a bathroom that was divided from the checkpoint by a glass partition, came out, and fired twice before setting the gun down and raising her hands. She then spent the remainder of the night telling investigators what she had done.
Laura Patterson speaks calmly following her arrest on November 14, 2023, according to footage captured by Port of Portland Officer Grant Thomnen’s body-worn camera.Sparling, Zane, and The Oregonian
According to the 48-year-old, she thought her mother, sister, aunt, and uncle had concealed the fact that she had been sexually abused as a youngster. The family members have not been accused of any crimes and did not attend the trial.
Around one in the morning following the shooting, Patterson told Port of Portland Detective Catherine Hartless, “I needed to do something, because I probably wanted to kill my entire family, and to prevent that, I did this.” Someone had to stop me.
In a gentle tone, Patterson informed the detective that she was not suicidal, that she didn’t trust medical professionals, and that she waited for a pause in foot traffic before shooting. She claimed to have become obsessed with the notion that shooting at the airport was the most effective method to be apprehended.
Defense lawyer Joshua McCain informed the seven men and five women on the jury that this was a call for assistance.
Given that the building would soon be demolished to make way for the new mass-timber shell that presently encloses the airport, workers only spent a few hundred dollars mending the roof rather than the thousands that would have been required for a complete replacement.
Patterson’s homicidal purpose should not be disregarded, according to the prosecution.
She quit her job at TJ Maxx at the start of the epidemic and, according to her own admission, spent the following years drinking by herself in her apartment in Kennewick while working on art projects, such as creating a huge papier-m ch toe.
Infuriated by a birthday letter from her mother and with only a few hundred dollars remaining in her accounts, Patterson loaded her car with two duffel bags, her Bersa.380 revolver, 100 rounds of ammunition, a pre-knotted noose, and her old license plates.
Prosecutors said Patterson was forced to drive to an airport because her automobile could not cross the mountains to her estranged relatives in Texas and Colorado.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Anthony Dundon stated that Ms. Patterson is intelligent. Because it doesn’t make logic, I’m requesting that you not believe her.
Because she has no criminal history, Patterson is projected to receive a sentence of two or three years, with credit for time served, even though the jury declined and she is still being held pending sentencing on December 19.
For The Oregonian/OregonLive, Zane Sparling reports on court proceedings and breaking news. You may contact him at [email protected], 503-319-7083, or pdxzane.
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