Cottage Grove man arrested after threats against lawn crew escalated

A routine lawn-maintenance job turned into a police response in Cottage Grove after a 58-year-old man allegedly threatened to kill workers, followed them to another property and later told officers he had a gun.

Cottage Grove police said the incident began around 10:30 a.m. June 4 in the 2100 block of Wilson Avenue, where multiple 911 callers reported a man confronting workers, yelling and threatening to kill them. Police identified the man as Brett Sahs.

Chief Cory Chase said the workers had been hired by a neighborhood homeowners association to do lawn maintenance and were working at Sahs’ home when the confrontation started. Police said the dispute did not end there. After the crew moved on to another nearby property, Sahs followed them and continued the threats.

Police said Sahs later returned home and called the property management company, where he repeated the threats again. Officers said he also told them he had a gun and was going to shoot somebody, which pushed the case into a higher-risk response.

Because of those statements, the Cottage Grove Police Department received assistance from the Lane County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police. An officer eventually made phone contact with Sahs, and around 12:45 p.m. he came out of the home and was taken into custody without further incident.

Sahs was booked into the Lane County Jail on two counts of menacing and one count of disorderly conduct. Jail records showed he remained in custody as of June 5.

The case landed in a small city where a neighborhood argument can quickly ripple across a block. Cottage Grove had a population of 10,574 at the 2020 census, and its police department says South Lane 911 handles dispatch within the city limits and provides 911 call-taking for fire and emergency medical services across a 900-square-mile area.

The sequence matters for workers and neighbors alike: what began as a property dispute over lawn care moved from one home to another, then to a phone call, then to a gun threat, before officers moved in. Police said the investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact the Cottage Grove Police Department at 541-942-9145.