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OREGON CITY, Or. – A Clackamas County grand jury concluded that an Oregon City police officer was justified in using deadly force when she confronted at an armed man who shot at her last month.
The grand jury reviewed evidence and testimony from the May 16, 2025 incident involving Scott Alan Farmer.
Following deliberations on Thursday, June 26, the grand jurors voted and determined that the actions of Officer Sydney Oden were justified and lawful under Oregon law.
Law enforcement involvement with Farmer, 58, began when he called a police non-emergency number at 4:45 a.m. on May 16 stating he was going to kill himself. Farmer hung up without identifying himself.
Oregon City police officers and Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies responded to the call.
Police arrived at Farmer’s home, 13309 Clairmont Way, at 4:57 a.m. As they arrived, Farmer’s wife called 911 stating that Farmer had gone outside and was armed with a loaded handgun. She stated that Farmer was intoxicated. Investigators found empty liquor bottles in the living room during a subsequent search of Farmer’s home.
She also said Farmer was suicidal and wanted to commit “suicide by cop.”
Four Oregon City officers and three Clackamas County deputies were present when Farmer went back inside his residence. At about the same time, police escorted Farmer’s wife to a safe location.
As police formulated a plan to deescalate the situation, Farmer left his residence and began walking down the street, directly toward officers. Farmer ignored police commands to take his hands out of his pockets, then pulled out a handgun and shot at Oregon City Officer Sydney Oden who returned fire, hitting Farmer in the hip. The investigation concluded that Farmer fired five times and Oden shot four times.
As Farmer lay on the ground, he spoke with officers.
“Who’s the woman I shot at,” Farmer asked.
“Her name is Sydney,” he is told.
“I’m sorry,” Farmer said.
Officers gave commands to Farmer as he lay on the ground and urged him to drop his gun. Some reminded him that they’d once worked together. Farmer was a sergeant with the Canby Police Department from 2002 to 2022 and deputy with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office from 2000 to 2002. He was known to many of the officers and deputies who responded to the call.
Farmer repeatedly said, “get away from me” and would not relinquish his weapon.
Farmer continued to disregard commands to let go of his gun. At 5:07 a.m., Farmer shot himself and died at the scene. The State Medical Examiner’s Office said Farmer died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and ruled Farmer’s death a suicide.
The confrontation with Farmer, including the shots he fired at Oden, was recorded on video by police body cameras as well as a cell phone video taken by a bystander.
Officer Oden was placed on critical incident leave as per departmental policy on officer-involved shootings. She has been a police officer since August 2022 when she was hired by Oregon City.
The investigation was conducted by the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team in cooperation with the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office. The Major Crimes Team is a consortium of state, county and local law enforcement who investigate crimes in Clackamas County. The lead investigators were Det. Alex Monarch of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and Det. Zoe Mirza of the Lake Oswego Police Department.