Man Arrested For Sauvie Island Shooting: Police

SAUVIE ISLAND, OR — "They tried to kill me, they tried to kill me! Help me! Help me!" a man screamed while frantically pounding the door of the home belonging to the Sauvie Island Community Church pastor.

The pastor opened the door to see blood seeping from the man's left shoulder, leaving a trail of dark red droplets across the church parking lot from Bailey Nurseries next door. Quickly, the pastor's wife called 911.

Just before 7 p.m. Dec. 12, a man was shot on Sauvie Island, northwest of Portland. Wednesday afternoon, officers arrested Brett Kage Andre — the man suspected of pulling the trigger. The victim remains in stable condition at a Portland hospital, and the probable cause affidavit obtained by Patch explains how he got there.

The victim told detectives he was shot because he owed $400 to a man called "Oxygen" — later identified as Andre.

Earlier Tuesday, Andre, 28, picked up the man he would later allegedly shoot and a blonde woman who was with him while they were shopping at a Portland Walmart. Already with Andre in the Mustang was another person, a woman named Jessica Oliver.

Andre, who was driving, was reportedly angry with the man over the debt and was driving erratically through East Portland, then St. Johns, then Forest Park and by the zoo toward Sauvie Island. The victim's blonde companion eventually asked to be let out lest she become sick from Andre's driving.

Andre reportedly pulled over and left her at a gas station along Highway 30.

Continuing onto Sauvie Island, Andre, Oliver, and the victim came to a stop, documents show. Andre allegedly began pistol whipping the victim with a revolver. The gun went off.

The victim told detectives he thought it went off accidentally because he didn't think Andre would have it in him to shoot him intentionally. The bullet was lodged in the victim's left shoulder. During the beating, he sustained a fractured rib and shattered shoulder blade as well. Yet, somehow, he escaped the altercation and ran to the church.

Following the interview with the victim, a detective backtracking the victim's route to Sauvie Island came across the blonde woman still walking along Highway 30. She provided additional details, including the dubious nature of the victim's debt to Andre (credit card fraud, allegedly) and text messages sent by the victim after she'd gotten out of the Mustang.

"In real trouble," one of them said. "Oxygen taken us to forest park, now skyline Blvd. answer this # if it calls."

The blonde woman also told detectives that Andre was staying at the States Motel, 2620 N.E. 82nd Ave.

Staff at the motel, upon looking at a picture of Andre, told a deputy he'd been staying with Oliver in a room there for the past month. Outside, the deputy could see Oliver getting into a brown pickup truck.

After initiating a traffic stop, deputies took Oliver into custody and charged her with possession of cocaine. She remains in Multnomah County Jail and is currently ineligible for bail.

After her arrest, Oliver reportedly told detectives she and Andre picked up the victim and his blonde companion at the Walgreens off 82nd Avenue before driving toward Sauvie Island in the Mustang. Along the way, Oliver said they'd let out the blonde woman at a gas station.

When the trio arrived at Sauvie Island, Andre and the other man got out of the car, Oliver said, noting she was alone and "did not see or hear anything" for the duration of at least two songs on the Mustang's stereo. She and Andre left Sauvie Island alone, she said.

While the deputy was arresting Oliver, another man approached and reportedly asked if everything was OK. The man told the deputy he was worried about Oliver and his brother.

When the deputy inquired as to whether Andre was his brother, the man declined to answer.

Around the same moment, a white Jeep drove past the man and deputy. The deputy reportedly observed the man nod to the woman who was driving the Jeep and saw another man attempting to hide in the backseat.

The deputy was still at the motel when the Jeep returned a short time later — this time without the man in the backseat.

When the deputy asked the woman in the Jeep where the man in the backseat had gone, she reportedly denied any knowledge of a man in the backseat before admitting she'd dropped him off at the trailhead to the Rocky Butte woods.

Now with another deputy and K9 unit, sheriff's officials began searching the woods for the man in the backseat — who they presumed was Andre.

Shortly after the search began, Andre emerged from the woods on his own and was taken into custody without incident.

Andre told detectives he and the victim know each, that the victim owed him $800, and that they'd been living together at the Four Points by Sheraton Portland East, 1919 N.E. 181st Ave., before he'd moved to the States Motel with Oliver, his girlfriend.

Andre admitted picking up the victim and his blonde companion at Walgreens, officials said. He also reportedly said Oliver was with him in the Mustang at the time, and that people sometimes refer to him as "Oxygen."

Andre denied any accusations of assault or involvement with firearms, however. And despite conflicting evidence he admitted was damning, Andre maintained his innocence, records show.

Andre reportedly told detectives his backpack was in the white Jeep back at the States Motel.

After getting a search warrant, detectives seized the backpack and found inside it five live rounds of .38 caliber ammunition and one spent shell casing. Detectives also found in the backpack a 13-inch ASUS laptop with an Oregon sticker — just like the victim had said was stolen from him at the time of the assault.

Andre was taken Dec. 13 to the Multnomah County Detention Center on several charges, including attempted murder, assault, and robbery. His bail has been set at over $1 million.

While law enforcement continues to investigate the shooting, deputies ask anyone with information to call the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office tip line at 503-988-0560.

Image via Multnomah County Sheriff's Office