Here is the LINK to the original article about the suspect and his arrest.
The Jackson County District Attorney’s Office announced Kristopher Wayne Clay (DOB:
12/0I /1996) was found guilty except for insanity as to the charge of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree after a stipulated facts trial today in front of the Honorable Charles Kochlacs in the Jackson County Circuit Court.
The court found the defendant was affected by a mental disease or defect, to wit: other specified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorder. The court also found at the time of engaging in his criminal conduct the defendant lacked substantial capacity to either appreciate the criminality of his conduct and/or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law due to that mental disease or defect. Therefore, defendant Clay was sentenced to 20 years under the Oregon State Psychiatric Review Board and will be transported to the Oregon State Hospital by the Jackson County Sherriff’s Office.
On July 20, 2021, the defendant called Jackson County Mental Health saying he had a friend who was thinking of committing a mass shooting. The defendant was told to go to the Medford Police Department. Clay went to the Medford Police Department and told an officer he was a
janitor at South Medford High School, had ammunition, magazines and parts to put together rifles at his grandmother’s storage unit, and rifle magazines and rifle parts at his house. When asked if he was homicidal, he told the officer it was getting to the point he wanted to hurt a lot of people. The defendant had previously been civilly committed and lost his right to possess firearms.
The defendant was transported to the Rogue Regional Medical Center’s Psychiatric Care Unit (PCU) for evaluation.
While the defendant was at the hospital he told a nurse he wanted to hold a classroom hostage, and if any of the children lived,they would be heroes. While the defendant was still at the hospital, officers and detectives from the Medford Police Department executed search warrants at the defendant’s home, his grandparents’ home and his grandparents’ storage units. Officers found the defendant had amassed gun parts including the lower 80% of an AR15 style firearm, ammunition including banana style magazines, a scream style Halloween mask, military style clothing, protective eye gear, a tactical vest and a map with the Medford School marked on it; as well as the Jackson County Jail and Courthouse. Detectives also executed a search warrant on the defendant’s phone and found defendant had been ordering those items off of the internet for a period of time leading up to July 20, 2021. Investigators found the Defendant had a compound bow and arrow, knives and two rifles he had easy access to at his grandparents’ home. Investigators recovered journals with over 1000 pages written by the defendant documenting his fascination with previous mass casualty events, his grievances with the world and his plans to carry out a mass casualty event.
Defendant Clay wrote about wanting to carry out his mass casualty event on April 20, which would be the same day as the Columbine High School Massacre and Hitler’s birthday. In his journals, he documented he fantasized about becoming famous by assassinating a celebrity or committing a mass murder; specifically, at a school or a shopping mall. The defendant also had literature about multiple high-profile mass casualty events, serial killers and the Columbine High School Massacre.
Investigators also verified the defendant had been employed as a janitor at South Medford High School since February 2021, and had previously applied for employment at other schools.
Clay was interviewed by investigators and told them he was receiving orders from the man upstairs for a mass sacrifice and that he tried to ignore it for as long as he could. The defendant was moved to the Behavioral Health Unit at the Rogue Regional Medical Center where he continued to make journal entries with shopping lists of items to cany out a mass casualty event.
Defendant Clay was arrested and lodged at the Jackson County Jail on August 4, 2021. He was indicted August 10, 2021, by the Jackson County Grand Jury. The Jackson County District Attorney’s Office worked in collaboration with the Medford Police Department, the Jackson County Sherriffs Office, Jackson County Mental Health, the Jackson County Threat Assessment Team, the Medford School District and the Federal Bureau Investigation in order to sustain a successful prosecution in this case.
Source: JCDA
