In the late evening hours of August 7th and into the early morning of August 8th, 2022, the Tillamook Police Department responded to multiple reports of several juveniles viciously attacking four local adult males. These males are struggling with a lack of housing in the City limits of Tillamook. The members of the Tillamook Police Department want everyone to know that any attack on innocent community members is taken very seriously. Tillamook Officers worked diligently around the clock to identify the three male youth offenders who are fifteen to sixteen years old. Due to their age, we are unable to provide any names at this time. We can share that one of the suspects had been placed into protective custody and transferred to the Oregon Youth Authority Facility in McMinnville, Oregon. Unfortunately, late this afternoon Tillamook Circuit Court Judge Hill ordered his release. The Tillamook Police Department has issued a warning about concern for the safety of those that are houseless, and the need for the community to support our most vulnerable populations. “We cannot even begin to express our shock and disappointment in this decision,” said Chief Ray Rau. “Our first concern is protecting innocent people in our community who are struggling with housing safe from further attacks.”
The other two suspects will be dealt with accordingly once the investigation is complete within the next day or two, and that all are held accountable for this violent incident.
The Tillamook Police Department wants to share our appreciation to the dedicated staff at CARE Inc., the Tillamook County Juvenile Department, Adventist Health Tillamook Regional Medical Center and Ambulance personnel, the local business owners and witnesses. All these community partners worked closely with us despite the early morning hours. All of this was instrumental in allowing us to quickly identify the suspects and keep our community members safe. We believe that having these positive relationships and open lines of communication with everyone in our community is the main reason we were able to successfully come to a resolution with this case so quickly without further serious injury.