Shooting victim reportedly intoxicated

SUTHERLIN — A friend of an Alaska man who was shot and killed after entering a stranger’s unlocked home in the middle of the night last week said the man was heavily intoxicated and may have been disoriented as he tried to make his way on foot from a local bar to his stepfather’s house.

Stacie Lyons, 37, of Sutherlin said she’d gone out with 35-year-old Michael Shane Smith Wednesday evening. The pair had walked to Vera’s on West Central Avenue from his stepfather’s North Side Road home, first stopping off at the liquor store for cigarettes and a bottle of Black Velvet whiskey.

Smith, mourning the recent death of his mother, was known to have a few beers during his trips to Sutherlin, but Lyons said, “He never got hammered like he did that night.”

Police say Smith was discovered passed out shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday on a couch in a home at 215 Mardonna Way by resident Christy Cramer. Cramer fled the home with her 8-year-old daughter and headed to Vera’s, where her husband Keith Robert Cramer also happened to be that night.

When the couple returned to their home, Keith Cramer, 34, went inside to confront the unknown man, said Dwes Hutson, spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. “There was an incident inside the house,” Hutson said last week, declining to elaborate because of the ongoing investigation.

Authorities say Cramer ended up shooting Smith once with a high-powered hunting rifle. Sutherlin police found Smith dead on the couch minutes later.

Authorities on Monday clarified some previously reported events that led up to the shooting. Last week, the Sheriff’s Office reported that Christy Cramer called 911 before leaving her home to get her husband. However, she actually first called 911 after returning to the home after summoning her husband, Hutson said.

Police were on their way to the home when they were told Keith Cramer called 911 to report he’d shot Smith and believed the man was dead. They arrived seven minutes after the first 911 call.

The incident remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed against Cramer.

“It would appear that an act of self-defense has been recognized,” said Danny Lang, Cramer’s attorney.

Lang said finding a strange man in their home would have been “certainly disconcerting” for the Cramers. Lang said his understanding of the situation is that when Keith Cramer entered the home, Smith made “sudden aggressive movements.”

“Mr. Cramer was caused to fear for his safety and probably the safety of his wife and daughter,” Lang said.

He said it would be inappropriate for him as an attorney to provide more details.

He has not seen any police reports about the incident, and said he could not confirm or deny that Smith was also at Vera’s that night. Lyons said to her knowledge, the men didn’t know each other and didn’t have contact at the bar.

A message left by The News-Review for a representative of the bar was not returned Monday.

Cramer declined to comment Friday, following Lang’s advice.

Lyons said she understands her friend shouldn’t have been inside a stranger’s home in the middle of the night. But she said she knew Smith, survived by two children and a wife, well enough to know the situation did not have to end in bloodshed.

“He didn’t have a violent bone in his body,” Lyons said.

Lyons said she eventually left Smith at the bar that night. He later reportedly started walking home with another friend. The bartender at Vera’s had stopped serving the man alcohol around midnight, Lyons said, but he still had the bottle of whiskey.

Lyons said the other friend last saw Smith near Bi-Mart, a couple of blocks from the Mardonna Way home. He’d said something about taking a nap in the bushes.

“She just figured he’d make his way home,” Lyons said.

The shooting occurred about 45 minutes later.

Lyons said Smith, who was born in Roseburg and grew up in Washington before moving to Alaska, had talked about his mother, Judith Stedman, a lot that night. His spirits had been temporarily buoyed by karaoke and dancing. He had a beautiful voice, she said.

But Smith’s stepfather, Jim Stedman, said his son had been struggling since his mother’s May 29 death. The woman had caught pneumonia while at the hospital for gallbladder surgery, and Smith had stayed with her when she was taken off life support.

“It messed him up bad,” Jim Stedman said.

• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@nrtoday.com.