Jordan Daniel Costantino

Jordan Daniel Costantino

July 23, 1990 - Los Angeles, California
May 28, 2008 - Redmond

Redmond Teen Shoots Himself After Police Chase East of Bend

A 17-year-old from Redmond who led sheriff’s deputies on two separate vehicle chases Tuesday night – shooting from the vehicle at pursing deputies – shot and killed himself after the pursuit ended east of Bend.

The incident began about 9:15 p.m. in southwest Redmond, according to a news release from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy spotted a vehicle on Metolius Avenue near 28th Street that he believed matched the description of a vehicle related to an earlier crime.

As the vehicle left the area, the driver, who was alone in the vehicle, began shooting at the deputy, hitting the patrol car several times, and disabling it, the news release stated. The deputy was not injured, and no officers fired any shots.

A chase began through southwest Redmond, but the deputy lost the vehicle when it traveled into land owned by the Bureau of Land Management south of the Deschutes County Fair & Expo center.

Other deputies and officers from Bend began looking for the vehicle, and at about 10:50 p.m. it was seen leaving Pronghorn resort and heading south on the Powell Butte Highway, the news release stated.

Deputies again began chasing the vehicle, and the pursuit traveled south in the area of Erickson and Nelson roads to U.S. Highway 20, before returning north on the Powell Butte Highway. During the chase, the driver, who police identified as Jordan Daniel Costantino, was shooting out his window at the pursuing deputies, the news release stated.

Officers from Bend, Redmond, the state police, the Crook County Sheriff’s Office and the Forest Service responded to the pursuit.

Police set out spike strips, which the vehicle traveled over just south of Pronghorn before it entered the resort, left the roadway and became stuck.

Members of the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team responded, and negotiators tried to get the driver to surrender and give up his gun. Instead, Costantino shot and killed himself, the news release stated.

The investigation continued today with the help of the Major Incident Team, which includes investigators from all Central Oregon police agencies, and the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone who found shell casings, damage from the bullets or who witnessed the events and has not been contacted by investigators to call 693-6911.

Bend Bulletin Story

Redmond teen kills self after police chase, gunfire

Posted: May 28, 2008 07:14 AM

Last Updated: May 28, 2008 10:09 PM

Stepmother says he was 'good kid, intelligent'

By Nina Mehlhaf Barney Lerten, KTVZ.COM

A driver, later identified as a Redmond 17-year-old, led police on a high-speed chase for several miles between Redmond and Bend late Tuesday, firing shots at pursuing officers and eventually turning the gun on himself, refusing pleas to surrender or give up his weapon.

Jordan Daniel Costantino would have turned 18 on July 23, sheriff's Capt. Marc Mills said.

He fired several shots at pursuing police during a chase late Tuesday night and eventually hit deployed "spike strips" and soon became stuck near the entrance to Pronghorn Resort. Police negotiated with the teen, who ended the standoff early Wednesday with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, deputies said.

The series of events began around 9:15 p.m., when a sheriff's deputy looking for someone related to an earlier check theft approached the area of SW 31st and Umatilla Avenue in Redmond and spotted a vehicle believed to match that individual's leave the area, Mills said.

The chase started when Costantino spotted the patrol car behind him, which hadn't yet even turned on it's lights or siren to pull him over.

Screeching away, police say he zoomed through neighborhoods at 70 mph, blasting shots from a 9 millimeter handgun both out of the driver's side window and through the rear window, aimed at the patrol car.

"It is scary - I feel like I'm in L.A.," said Holli Hays, who heard the gunshots and found bullet casings in her Metolius Place front yard.

"We came outside and all the people were out here, saying somebody drove by shooting and they said they were shooting at the police," Hays said.

Another neighbor, Mary Nash, said, "I was a little concerned, because normally there aren't police cars swarming around in that frantic kind of manner."

It went on for miles, until at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, when apparently one of Costantino's bullets hit the patrol car's engine just right, putting it out of commission and letting Costantino get away.

"I don't believe at this minute that we've counted how many rounds were fired, but they are numerous. There was an observation of him reloading," Mills said.

Finally, hours and many miles later, Oregon State Police spotted him, set out spike strips on Powell Butte Highway and Costantino got his blue Jeep Cherokee stuck at the entrance to Pronghorn Resort. After an hour of fruitless negotiations, he took his own life.

While no one else was hurt, sheriff's deputies say Costantino put innocent lives at risk with both his speed and wildly firing out the window.

"A 17-year-old that attempts to take the lives of police officers, deputies and state troopers, I would have to say it's a mystery. I don't know that any of us will ever know what he was thinking," Mills said.

Investigators said the chase stared on Metolius Avenue near 28^th Street in southwest Redmond, continuing southbound on 35^th Street to Salmon Avenue and 31^st Street.

The deputy's car was hit several times, but the deputy was unhurt, he said.

No officers returned fire, the captain added.

But sheriff's deputies say innocent lives were at risk, along with the safety of officers, while the high-speed pursuit was going down.

"At some point, there was a deep concern for officer safety," Mills said.

The sheriff's office asked anyone who might find bullet shell casings or areas of bullet impact in these areas to contact the sheriff's office at (541) 693-6911. A neighborhood canvass of these areas also was conducted, Mills said.

Any witnesses who haven't been contacted also were asked to call the sheriff's office.

Costantino, who previously attended Redmond High, had completed an alternative high school course through COIC and was "getting ready to go through the (graduation) walk" with his classmates in June, said his stepmother, Melanie Cochran.

"We had the cap and gown here at the house," she said. "He already had basically graduated."

"I want people to know, yes, he had some issues," Cochran said. "But actually, to be honest with you, he was a good kid, except for some drug issues. He was intelligent. He did get straight 4.0 in schools. He loved to ride his motorcycles."

Police don't know why the teen ran, but tests will determine if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Because Costantino was a juvenile, it's not known if he had a criminal history.

Though the circumstances were dramatically different, it marked the second time in less than a week that a Central Oregon teen died in an encounter with police. Last Friday night, star Culver High athlete Matt Zachary ran from a Bend police stop and was soon found dying nearby; the cause of death in that case remains under investigation.

z21 Story

Redmond teen 'fell through cracks,' friends say

Posted: May 29, 2008 06:27 PM

Long string of trouble, then clean period

By Nina Mehlhaf, KTVZ.COM

Friends are speaking out about the Redmond teen who led police on a high-speed chase Tuesday night, firing shots at officers, before taking his own life.

"I knew Jordan was messed up, but I didn't think he would ever hurt himself - he was a good kid," a close friend of 17-year-old Jordan Costantino who wanted to remain anonymous said Thursday.

Costantino liked motorcycles and had been taking flying lessons, hoping someday to be a pilot.

Ready to graduate soon, friends say Costantino was funny and smart. But according to the Deschutes County Juvenile Department, since he was 12 years old, Costantino was in and out of jail for theft, underage drinking, assault, marijuana - and his biggest weakness, according to friends, methamphetamine.

It's what they say he was high on when he made the horrible decision of speeding away from and shooting dozens of bullets at police Tuesday night.

Deschutes County Community Justice Director Ken Hales explains why he may have done that.

"Their (young teens) brains aren't developed as much, therefore they don't have the context to say, 'Oh, this isn't as bad as I think it is. Oh, my world isn't really ending.''" Hales said

The anonymous friend told NewsChannel 21 a probation officer warned Costantino the next offense would send him back behind bars for 15 years.

The teen says Jordan didn't want that.

"I mean yeah, he did - he shot at cops and everything - but he was scared. He had 15 years on the line, he's 17 years old. That's close to his whole life in jail."

Friends say it's a tragedy he slipped through the cracks of the system. Not two weeks ago, he was pleading for help.

"He told his probation officer he didn't feel right, he wanted to go to a mental hospital," the friend said. "He knew something was going wrong, and he just wanted some help to fix it."

But friends say it never came. The juvenile department can't talk about specific cases but says for a small percentage of teens who start this path so early in life, there's little it can do.

"We can't make it happen," Hales said. "We can provide services, we can provide supervision, but in many cases it does come down to individual will."

Friends say Costantino was planning on running away to Montana the night he took his life, and had just come into Redmond to pick up his belongings and say goodbye.

"When he wasn't mixed up in it, he had his head straight," the teen's friend said. "He was in school, everything was fine. He was a perfect kid for almost a year, and then this happened."

Police cannot yet confirm what Costantino's friends say about any drug use that night. It's still unclear where he may have gotten the gun he had as well.

Friends say until just recently, he had stayed clean for a year and a half and was getting back on his feet.

Story from Z21