• July 24: Updated with an indictment handed down by a grand jury.
  • Updated with information about formal charges filed by prosecutors.

A man arrested Friday, June 19, by has been indicted on three counts of attempted murder after Springfield police said he fired a rifle while fleeing from officers.

Police officers are named as the alleged victims, but the charges do not cite state law relating to the murder or attempted murder of police officers. In Oregon, the law requires such crimes against working officers to be “premeditated, committed intentionally” for aggravated charges to be filed.

According to a press release from Springfield police, officers responded to a call around 10:30 p.m. Friday reporting that a man with a gun had assaulted a family member. The man reportedly fired the gun and left the residence, in the 600 block of Janus Street, a street in a subdivision south of West Centennial Boulevard and west of Pioneer Parkway. 

Officers arrived in the neighborhood and found the man, Zachery Greer, near Rainbow Drive and West D Street, an area next to the Willamette River. Greer was not compliant with officers, according to the press release, got into the river and fired a rifle at officers. Officers shot back, but no one was hit by the bullets, the press release said. Officers eventually took Greer into custody after following him as he floated a short distance downstream.

Greer, 38, of Springfield, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Before the case went to a grand jury, prosecutors filed felony charges against Greer, but he was not charged with attempted murder until a Lane County grand jury indictment filed July 22.

Greer is also charged with one count of unlawful use of a firearm-domestic violence and misdemeanor domestic violence assault.

In addition, Greer faces five counts of unlawful use of a weapon and a misdemeanor charge of possessing a firearm by a prohibited person.

The Springfield Police Department has requested the Lane County Sheriff to investigate the incident because it was an officer-involved shooting.

The press release did not say if anyone was injured in the residence where the incident began.

Lilly is a graduate of Indiana University and has worked as a journalist at the Indianapolis Star and in Burlington, Vermont, as well as working as a foreign language teacher in France. She covers education and children's issues for Lookout Eugene-Springfield.