Eugene Police Arrest Trespassing Suspect With Loaded Gun After Drone Search
A drone-assisted search led Eugene police to Neil Rory Sharp, 43, who was found carrying a loaded firearm in his backpack after residents reported him trying door handles in their yards.
A northeast Eugene neighborhood was put on edge the morning of March 12 when residents began calling police about a man moving through their yards and trying door handles. One of those callers was a woman who reported the activity while home alone with two small children.
Eugene Police Department received the first calls at 11:26 a.m. regarding suspicious activity in the Cape Hatteras Drive area. Several officers responded, and an EPD sergeant deployed a drone to search the surrounding streets. The drone located the suspect south of Chad Drive on Game Farm Road, where an officer stopped and detained him.
The man, identified as 43-year-old Neil Rory Sharp, was carrying a backpack. A search of that backpack turned up a loaded firearm.
Sharp was arrested and transported to Lane County Jail on charges of Felon in Possession of a Restricted Weapon, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and two counts of Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree. The Eugene Police Department is investigating the case under number 26-03688.
The felon-in-possession charge indicates Sharp has a prior felony conviction, though the police release provided no details about his criminal history beyond the charges filed. No injuries were reported during the incident, and police have not stated whether any property was entered or damaged during Sharp's movement through the neighborhood.
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