Mother of Bend School Shooter Faced Two Assault Accusations in 2023, but No Conviction Blocked Her Gun Purchase

A week after a mass shooting killed four people at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, attention has turned to how a 16-year-old reached his former elementary school with a loaded shotgun. Records reviewed by the Oregon Journalism Project show the weapon belonged to his mother, who had twice been accused of assault in the years before she bought it.

According to law enforcement officials, Shauntai Nickerson legally purchased the Mossberg Maverick 88 pump-action shotgun in August, and it was registered in her name. The firearm typically sells for $250 to $300. Officials have not said where she bought it. Under Oregon law, 16- and 17-year-olds may legally have rifles and shotguns if a parent or guardian provides them.

Oregon bars the sale of a firearm to anyone convicted of a violent misdemeanor, such as assault, within the previous four years. Neither of the 2023 accusations against Nickerson ended in an assault conviction, so the restriction did not apply. A conviction in either case would have made the purchase illegal.

The first incident, in January 2023, is described in a Bend police report. It says Nickerson, then 40, and her daughter Ariel Swan, then 19, assaulted a woman outside a Taco Bell. The report says Nickerson followed the woman down an alley in a white SUV and tried to run her over, then yelled obscenities from the window before both women got out and attacked her. The two told police the woman had slept with Nickerson's ex-boyfriend; the woman denied it and said she did not know them. A bystander told officers the pair "definitely hunted her down." Swan was arrested and charged with harassment and attempted fourth-degree assault. Police reports say Nickerson "charged" at officers during the arrest. She was neither arrested nor charged.

Less than two months later, Nickerson was charged with assault and harassment in an apparently unrelated case involving a different victim, a woman in her early 40s. Court records give no police report or detail beyond saying she caused "physical injury." She pleaded guilty to harassment in October 2023, and two weeks later the office of Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels dismissed the assault charge. The office said in an Oct. 23 statement that the prosecutor did not believe there was enough evidence to win at trial.

Tung Yin, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, said the outcome likely reflected a plea bargain, which lets both sides avoid a lengthy, costly and unpredictable trial. He noted that prosecutors and police exercise wide discretion. "There are so many crimes that people commit, prosecutors just can't charge them all, so they have to pick and choose," he said.

Police have not discussed a motive, though Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that investigators are examining possible links to extremist groups. The shooter was killed by a parent of two students at the school. Court records describe a chaotic childhood: his father, Griffin J. John, 47, has a felony conviction for assaulting a police officer and other misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, and is homeless in Astoria. Nickerson was herself a victim of domestic violence, and her then-boyfriend Kyle Duncan pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony assault and coercion against her; the convictions were vacated after he completed a deferred sentencing program.

Dr. Harold Schwartz, a University of Connecticut psychiatry professor who has studied school shooters, said many people share traits such as isolation and anger without becoming violent. "The single most significant difference is the availability of the weapon," he said. National Institute of Justice data show 77% of mass shooters legally accessed their firearms, and more than 80% of school shooters took guns from family members. Some outlets have reported the gun was a birthday gift, which the Oregon Journalism Project has not verified. Nickerson, Duncan and Swan did not return calls seeking comment.