By Tony Hernandez
The Oregonian
KING CITY, Ore. — An Oregon State Police trooper suffered life-threatening injuries after a Christmas Day shootout near Sherwood that resulted in the death of a man suspected in an earlier homicide, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.
The suspect, a former police cadet, was killed after he had allegedly fled the scene of the homicide, according to authorities. The second shooting occurred about seven miles from the initial crime scene.
The injured trooper, identified by the Oregon State Police as 32-year-old Nic Cederberg, is a seven-year veteran of the state police who also served in the military.
The deadly encounters began late Sunday evening. King City police officers responded at 10:15 p.m. to S.W. King James Place on reports of shots fired outside the home.
Officers found Kate Armand, lying dead in the street. Police identified the suspect as James Tylka, 30, the victim’s estranged husband.
The victim was identified by her sister Megan Armand, who said the couple was married but separated. They had an 11-month-old daughter together, Megan Armand said.
“We are still in shock and devastated from last night’s events,” she said in an emailed statement. “My heart is broken from the loss of my only sister. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the wounded OSP Officer and his family.”
Tylka was an unpaid police cadet with the Beaverton Police Department between 2004 and 2006, said department spokesman Officer Mike Rowe. Cadets in the department were typically teenagers who have an interest in law enforcement. The cadets shadowed officers and helped with office work, he said. They did not carry service weapons.
The program has since been discontinued, and records from the time have been destroyed, Rowe said.
The address where Armand was found was listed as Tylka’s residence. He appeared to be living there with his mother in a home situated in a King City neighborhood for senior citizens.
Monday morning around 9:30 a.m., the quiet empty cul de sac contained no yellow crime tape, police presence or other evidence of a crime scene.
Loren Mitchell, who lives next door to the house on King James Place, said he heard what sounded like loud knocks on his door while he was watching a Christmas movie around 10 p.m. He later realized those knocks were about five rapid gunshots, he said.
He stood up from his couch and looked out the front window of his home.
“I saw a white, noisy car heading out. ... I opened the door and went outside and looked,” Mitchell said. “About that time the lady next door ... was screaming in front of her driveway.”
Mitchell said he saw a car in the middle of a cul de sac with its lights pointed straight at his eyes. He couldn’t see much.
The neighbor “came around in front of the headlights and said, ‘Call 911, call the police there’s someone laying on the street,’ ” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said his next door neighbors, Harold and Janeigh Bettis, have lived in that home for three or four years. Records indicate that Janeigh Bettis was Tylka’s mother. Attempts to reach the family were unsuccessful.
Jim Trees, a neighbor across the street, also heard what sounded like knocks on his door around 10 p.m. He walked outside and saw a blue car in the middle of the street through out the night. It was towed by 9 a.m., he said.
Police said Tylka was later involved in a car pursuit that ended on Southwest Gimm Lane south of Sherwood. At some point, Tylka shot a state trooper before officers fatally wounded the suspect, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. David Thompson.
Carol Sumner was inside her home on Gimm Lane, when she heard a crash outside at 10:45 p.m., she said. She later learned the state trooper, in a black unmarked car, had collided head on with the vehicle Tylka was driving. She heard gunshots quickly after.
“I don’t know which one fired first,” Sumner said. “It was like pop, pop, pop, and then it was a whole lot of pops.”
She shared photos of the scene that show a bloody white car driven by Tylka that appears to be a Mitsubishi Galant with its driver side door open.
“He ran down our driveway and for whatever reason, he changed his mind,” she said with a sigh of relief, “and turned around and ran into the woods.”
Other officers arrived shortly after, exchanged more fire and killed Tylka, she said. The state trooper was rushed to the hospital within 15 minutes of the shooting, she said.
Her home was not hit by gunfire, but a trailer and a boat sustained some bullet holes. Her family and friends are shaken up. She had a larger group of family members at her home to celebrate Christmas before the shooting occurred, she said.
“Everybody else had just left like an hour before,” she said. “I’m glad the grandkids were gone.”
The wounded trooper, Nic Cederberg is assigned to the patrol division in North Plains, according to the Oregon State Police.
“Nic received multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to a Portland area hospital,” the agency said. “Nic underwent surgery (Monday) morning and is in critical condition surrounded by his family and friends.”
“We are also humbled by the support the community has given,” the agency said. “Please keep Nic, his family and all of his law enforcement peers in your thoughts and prayers.”
Officers from Tigard, Hillsboro, Sherwood and Tualatin were involved in Sunday’s shooting incident. An undisclosed number of them have been placed on paid administrative leave, per police protocol.
The county’s Major Crime Team has launched an investigation.
In October 2015, a state trooper identified as Nicholas Cederberg was involved in a shootout with an unrelated suspect after a car chase on U.S. 26.
Before he married Kate Armand, the homicide suspect Tylka had been married to another woman.
The records show Tylka and his ex-wife had several years of disputes regarding custody and child support payments.
The woman filed for immediate temporary custody of their child in September, saying the boy was in danger of potential abuse. The woman said Tylka spoke about suicide in September 2015, drawing a call to police, before leaving town for four months.
She wrote that they agreed to joint custody in May 2016 but he had been acting irrationally, impulsively and aggressively, constantly pressuring the boy for updates about what she is doing at home.
The woman wrote that the boy was crying when she picked him up Sept. 5. The boy, she said, told her that Tylka yelled at him and a grandmother.
“I asked him what he meant. (The boy) stated: ‘If I don’t tell daddy what you do he yells at me and sends me to the corner. I told him no and he yells until I tell him.’”
A judge denied the request for immediate temporary custody.
Earlier this month, an auto dealer filed a small claim against Tylka, saying he owes $450 for a down payment of a vehicle.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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(c)2016 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)