The Washington woman who allegedly shot a pistol at Portland International Airport last month tried to kill her mother, sister, aunt and uncle, prosecutors allege.
Laura Patterson, 47, was arrested late Nov. 14 after she stepped out of a bathroom near PDX’s north-side security checkpoint and fired a gun into the ceiling twice, according to witnesses and court documents.
Patterson later told a detective that she drove to the airport from her home in Kennewick, Washington, to fire the gun and not hurt anyone so that she could be prevented from killing several family members. She said she had been thinking of killing her family — her mom, sister, aunt and uncle, specifically — for several years. Those family members live in or near Houston and were not at the Portland airport that day, court records indicate.
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on how family members lives’ were threatened beyond allegations in court documents that Patterson said she wanted to kill them.
Patterson pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges in the indictment, which was filed the day after Thanksgiving and included four counts of first-degree attempted murder and 10 other charges, including multiple counts of unlawful use of a weapon, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
Patterson’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Patterson remains in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center. Reached by phone, Patterson’s sister declined to comment.
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