A woman who was shot and left paralyzed while protesting a police-involved shooting at a Portland park in 2022 has died after she chose to be pulled off a ventilator that was keeping her alive.
The woman — identified only as “Deg” — requested to be pulled off the life-saving device on July 1, causing her to die the following day, according to The Oregonian.
She is now the second person to die as a result of the Normandale Park shooting on Feb. 19, 2022., where gunman Benjamin Smith shot five people at a planned protest over the police-involved shooting death of Amir Lock.
The 32-year-old gunshot victim was shot through the neck during the mass shooting, with a bullet ripping through her phrenic nerve, resulting in her becoming paralyzed from the shoulders down.
Deg had decided to be pulled off her ventilator after battling through three bouts of pneumonia and more than two years of limited social interaction due to the risk of contracting a fatal respiratory infection always lingering since being shot, according to the outlet.
Once an independent young woman who was an avid traveler and hiker, Deg’s injuries left her unable to go more than an hour without the support of others.
“She had lost so much control,” her mother told the outlet, requesting that neither her name nor her daughter’s full name be used to preserve their privacy.
“This was something that was her decision. I couldn’t argue with her. But we miss her desperately.”
Before her death, Deg reportedly hosted a birthday party for herself where she invited forty of her family and friends.
“For the first time in 2½ years she was able to enjoy her loved ones without a mask. There was no fear,” her mother said.
After being pulled off her ventilator on July 1, Deg died in her childhood home at around noon the following day, the outlet reported.
Her death was ruled as complications from a gunshot wound to the neck.
Deg’s death has now been listed as a homicide, according to the outlet.
Smith, 44, pleaded guilty to nine counts, including second-degree murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, in March 2023.
The convicted killer was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 55 years.
Smith lived across the street from Normandale Park and was said to have become increasingly “radicalized” against liberal policies.
“He talked about wanting to do this for a while. He was angry at the mask mandates, he was angry at the damned liberals,” his roommate, Kristine Christenson, told Oregon Public Broadcasting days after the shooting.
Christenson said she hadn’t felt safe living with him for some time prior to the shooting.
She claimed that Smith grew angrier during the latter years of the Obama administration, and his behavior then took a turn for the worse during the pandemic, she said.
“As the years went on, he’s just gotten more and more radicalized,” Christenson told the outlet. “He got angrier and angrier … I did not feel safe with him, especially this last two years with the whole COVID thing. I think that made him even more angry.”
Christenson said that Smith would often rant about the presence of Black Lives Matter demonstrators and other protesters in Portland and was an avid gun collector who allegedly displayed his weapons and sometimes threatened homeless people with them.
On Feb. 19, 2022, Smith squeezed off shots with a .45-caliber handgun and was wounded in the lower abdomen and bowel by a man who returned fire with a rifle during his rampage.
However, Smith had already shot five people before he was incapacitated, including June Knightly, according to KGW 8.
Knightly, 60, had been there to help with traffic control for the protest and was shot in the head at close range and died at the scene, according to the outlet.
It’s unclear if Smith will face any new charges in the wake of Deg’s death.
