NYSSA MOURNS: A ‘goofball with a master’s degree’ remembered at police memorial in Nyssa

UPDATE 11 a.m. Sunday : Additional details have been added about the memorial service.

NYSSA – With a riderless horse, bagpipes and a law enforcement procession that stretched 12 miles, the people of Nyssa and law enforcement officers from across the West on Saturday honored Joseph “JJ” Johnson, a reserve police corporal killed on duty a week earlier.

Johnson, 43, was picking up an extra shift for the short-handed Nyssa Police Department when he was shot to death.

He is only the second officer to die on duty in Malheur County. The first was Nyssa officer Alfred Evans, killed in 1957 when a car struck him.

The service brought daily life nearly to a stop in Nyssa, an agricultural town of about 3,100. A crowd filled Nyssa High School’s auditorium and hundreds more observed the ceremony in a live feed to the school’s gymnasium.

Over two hours, speakers described Johnson’s work career, drive for education and a personality that was both caring and fun-loving.

“He was a goofball with a master’s degree,” said Don Ballou, Nyssa police chief.

Ahead of the ceremony Saturday morning, hundreds of police and fire vehicles congregated in a parking lot at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario. They represented city police departments, sheriff’s offices, fire departments and state police from Oregon, Idaho and Washington.

The last vehicle in the procession was just leaving the parking lot as the lead vehicles pulled into Nyssa 12 miles away.

VIDEO: Watch Nyssa ceremony

Scattered all along the route, citizens parked and stood for the passing procession. Some held American flags. Some put their hands over their hearts. Others saluted.

In Nyssa, the procession turned onto the street to the high school, passing under a massive U.S. flag stretched across Adrian Boulevard, held taut by two fire ladder trucks.

As the vehicles carrying Johnson’s family drew near, members of honor guards stepped alongside, providing a walking escort the final few hundred yards to the school parking lot. The honor guards came from the Oregon Department of Corrections, the Oregon State Police and other agencies.

The silence was broken only by the sounds of vehicle engines and the mournful songs played by the Portland Police Highland Guard. The bagpipers and drummers stepped into the procession behind the honor guard. They were followed by a single riderless horse.

Above, a helicopter from Life Flight flew slowly over the high school and above the procession, tracing its route north out of town.

Mindful that hundreds of officers had gathered, police tactical teams took positions on school building rooftops, keeping a watchful eye.

At the high school, the auditorium filled with Johnson’s relatives, police in crisp uniforms and officers from the Oregon Department of Corrections, where Johnson had worked since 2007.

Hundreds more mourners took seats in the high school gymnasium, home of the Bulldogs, to watch the ceremony on a large screen.

A member of the Corrections Department carried the urn with Johnson’s remains from the hearse to the auditorium.

Over two hours, speakers told Johnson’s life story, alternating with bagpipe music and honor guard presentations of flags.

Pastor Cassidy Kotte of Nyssa Christian Fellowship and Pastor Danny Morrison shared accounts of Johnson’s faith.

That faith, Morrison said, gave Johnson “confidence that his life had purpose” and “for him, that purpose was one of service.”

Ballou, the police chief, told of Johnson’s “cheesy grin” and zest for life. But he described a man who constantly sought more education, amassing nearly double the number of law enforcement training hours that his chief had.

As a reserve, he wasn’t paid for his duty.

The chief said that in the last four months, Johnson had worked patrol shifts on Saturday and Sunday – his days off from his job as a behavioral health specialist at the Snake River Correctional Institution. He did so, Ballou said, because he knew the small agency was short of people.

“We’re never going to fully recover because it’s such a huge loss,” Ballou said.

Johnson started work for the Oregon Department of Corrections as a corrections officer and last year became the first officer to make the shift to behavioral health.

Rob Pearson, the agency’s deputy director of operations, said Johnson was known among colleagues as a practical joker with a passion for “Star Wars.”

A sizable man, Johnson was called “Papa Bear” as much for his caring for agency workers and inmates as his girth. He made coffee each day – and cleaned the coffee maker before leaving, Pearson said.

A slide show at the ceremony with photos and details of Johnson’s life played to the “Star Wars” theme. The presentation referred to his two children as “jedi kidlings.”

Gov. Tina Kotek, “in the name of a grateful state,” on Friday awarded Johnson the Law Enforcement Medal of Ultimate Sacrifice. At the ceremony, Casey Codding, Oregon State Police superintendent, presented the medal to Johnson’s widow, Linda.

The ceremony took place just a mile from the Nyssa neighborhood where Johnson died, shot while behind the wheel of his patrol car, answering a domestic violence call. The suspect, Rene Castro, 36, was arrested two days later, on April 17, 2023, and now potentially faces the death penalty after being charged in Malheur County Circuit Court with aggravated murder.

At the high school, the ceremony ended with a lone trumpeter playing taps.

Then, came the ceremonial broadcast from Malheur County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Carisa Armenta – referred to as 300 on the radio – seeking to contact “320” – Johnson’s radio identification.

“Three-two-zero, 300. Status check.”

Again.

“Three-two-zero, 300. Status check.”

Once more.

“Three-two-zero, 300. Status check.”

“Three-two-zero, negative contact.”

“All units, three-two-zero, reserve Corporal Joe Johnson is out of service. End of watch, April 15, 2023.”

RELATED COVERAGE: