BEND, OR (Released from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office) – On November 10, 2025, Deschutes County Judge Alison Emerson sentenced 41-year-old Portland resident Samson Garner to 30 years in prison for Attempted Murder and other charges related to the plan and actions that he took to carry out a mass shooting at an event at Smith Rock State Park in October of 2023.
Garner shared plans to show up at a climbing event to rampage through the event, shooting participants and spectators. He was aware that a few hundred people would be attending. Garner also discussed his persistent thoughts about murder and vengeance, and his desire to kill people and inflict intense feelings of shock and trauma on those who would watch but do nothing to help.
In August 2023, the day before the event was scheduled to begin, Garner drove from his residence in the Portland area, after a prolonged period of isolation in his house, to Deschutes County, where he was contacted by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and taken into custody. He was in possession of multiple firearms, body armor, and a large cache of ammunition. He had packed a tactical vest to capacity with ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds…