Nickerson Bought Mossberg Shotgun in August After Oregon Assault Charge Dropped in 2023

Shauntai Nickerson bought the Mossberg Maverick 88 pump-action shotgun used in the Oct. 16 attack at Silver Rail Elementary School in August, according to law enforcement officials. The firearm, registered in her name, typically sells for $250 to $300, and officials have not disclosed the seller.

Oregon prohibits firearm sales to anyone convicted of a violent misdemeanor, including assault, within the prior four years. Nickerson was accused of assault twice in 2023, but neither case produced an assault conviction, so the restriction did not bar her purchase. A conviction in either matter would have made the transaction illegal.

A January 2023 Bend police report describes an incident outside a Taco Bell in which Nickerson, then 40, and her daughter Ariel Swan, then 19, were accused of assaulting a woman. The report says Nickerson followed the woman down an alley in a white SUV, attempted to run her over, and shouted obscenities from the window before both women exited and attacked her. The two told police the woman had been involved with Nickerson's ex-boyfriend, a claim the woman denied. A bystander told officers the pair "definitely hunted her down." Swan was arrested and charged with harassment and attempted fourth-degree assault; police reports state Nickerson "charged" at officers during the arrest but was neither arrested nor charged.

In March 2023, Nickerson faced a separate assault and harassment charge involving a different woman in her early 40s. Court records list no police report and cite only "physical injury." She pleaded guilty to harassment in October 2023, and the Deschutes County District Attorney's office under Steve Gunnels dismissed the assault charge two weeks later. An Oct. 23 statement from the office said the prosecutor lacked sufficient evidence to prevail at trial.

Tung Yin, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, said the outcome likely resulted from a plea bargain that spared both sides a trial. "There are so many crimes that people commit, prosecutors just can't charge them all, so they have to pick and choose," Yin said.

The 16-year-old shooter was killed by a parent of two students at the school. Police have not released a motive, though Oregon Public Broadcasting reported investigators are examining possible ties to extremist groups. Court records show his father, Griffin J. John, 47, holds a felony conviction for assaulting a police officer along with misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, and is homeless in Astoria. Nickerson was a survivor of domestic violence; her then-boyfriend Kyle Duncan pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony assault and coercion against her, convictions later vacated after he completed a deferred sentencing program.

Dr. Harold Schwartz, a University of Connecticut psychiatry professor who has studied school shooters, said isolation and anger appear in many people who never become violent. "The single most significant difference is the availability of the weapon," Schwartz said. National Institute of Justice data show 77% of mass shooters legally obtained their firearms, and over 80% of school shooters took guns from relatives. Nickerson, Duncan and Swan did not return requests for comment.