On the evening of April 15, 2023, Nyssa Police Department Reserve Officer Joseph Johnson, age 43, was killed in the line of duty while responding to a call about a violent person damaging property and making threats. The call came in around 8:20 p.m. After the suspect fled by vehicle, Johnson pursued through Nyssa; the chase ended at Locust Avenue and North Third Street, where the suspect immediately exited his vehicle and opened fire. Johnson was fatally wounded inside his patrol car before he could return fire or defend himself. First responders arrived quickly but he was already deceased.

The shooter, identified as 36-year-old Rene Castro of Nyssa, fled and triggered a multi-agency manhunt that concluded on the morning of April 17 when investigators found him at a residence in Ontario, Oregon; a SWAT team took him into custody without further incident. Castro was charged with Johnson’s murder. The community remembered Johnson as a corrections employee, a married father of two, and a devoted public servant. Does anyone have information about Johnson’s final call, the pursuit, or the events at Locust Avenue and North Third Street?