GUNBATTLE LEAVES 2 DEPUTIES WOUNDED

A Man Suspected Of Growing Marijuana Dies In A Firefight Between Himself
And Officers From A Douglas County Narcotics Team

ROSEBURG -- A suspected marijuana grower charged out of his barn in remote
Tiller on Friday afternoon, shooting and wounding two Douglas County
sheriffs deputies before being killed by return fire.

The deputies, members of the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team, were
serving a search warrant at the site along the Umpqua River in southwestern
Oregon at 12:45 p.m. and didn't even get out of the van before the suspect
opened fire, according to Jim Main, a Douglas County deputy sheriff.

The officers returned fire, killing the suspect, said Maj. Harry Mullins of
the sheriffs office.

The suspects name was not released.

The wounded deputies, Jeffrey S. Admire and Coy V. Kratz, were airlifted to
Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, arriving at 2:30 p.m.

Admire, 33, suffered a severely bruised chest from a bullet that hit his
bulletproof vest. He was in fair condition and was expected to be released
today. Kratz, 33, underwent surgery Friday afternoon for three gunshot
wounds to the leg. Doctors said they removed bullet fragments and repaired
damage from a bullet that went through Kratzs thigh. Kratz is expected to
be hospitalized for five days.

Interagency commander Mike Nores said five officers and one uniformed
Douglas County sheriffs deputy were on the scene during the shootout.

"It was a gunfight, said Jim McDonald, who lives nearby and heard the
shots. It was semi-automatic and very rapid fire. It was boom, boom, boom.

McDonald said his 16-year-old daughter, Donna, and a friend were walking on
the gravel road near the suspects house when shooting broke out. They ran
back home crying. He estimates he heard about 20 to 30 gunshots.

Main, along with a half-dozen police cars, ambulances and a rescue
helicopter, responded to the scene at the end of Ash Valley Road, 17 miles
outside Tiller on the edge of the Umpqua National Forest.

Main said the site was searched for other occupants, but no one was found.

The property, a former homestead, is between Diamond Lake and Tiller in
eastern Douglas County. Homes in the area are powered by generators and
have no telephones or mail delivery.

Sandy and Perry Burdic, who were deer hunting in the area, drove by the
home soon after. They said a body was on the ground in front of the house,
covered by a yellow sheet.

McDonald, who did not know the suspect well, said the man had rented the
house for about a year.

He said the man once invited his wife and children inside and showed them
his workshop, where he made music boxes and grandfather clocks. Once, the
man brought over some homemade banana ice cream after borrowing some tools,
McDonald said.

This is the first time an officer has been shot in Douglas County since
1978, when two deputies were wounded in the course of an arrest.

Admire, who is married and the father of three children, has been with the
department since 1989. Kratz, who has been with the sheriff's office for
five years, was previously a deputy with Lane County sheriff's office. He
is engaged to be married.

A spokesman for the Douglas County sheriff's office said another search
warrant will be obtained today, and officers will spend the weekend
investigating the property.

An autopsy on the suspect is set for Monday.

John Griffith, a correspondent for The Oregonian, and The Associated
Press contributed to this report.