NEWPORT — A man shot and killed Aug. 9 by a motorist on Yaquina Bay Bridge was a homeless man who had been arrested for disorderly conduct in mid-June for repeatedly threatening bridge construction workers.
Newport police on Tuesday identified the dead man as Justin J. Salisbury, 49, of Newport.
Salisbury was shot once at 12:54 p.m. on the west walkway of the bridge and a man – whose name has not yet been released by police – detained immediately. Police said Tuesday that the results of their investigation has been forwarded to the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office.
Officers located and identified several witnesses to the incident Aug. 9 incident, Newport police said in their initial news release about the shooting.
Newport police arrested Salisbury on June 16 after workers for Vector Construction said he repeatedly threatened them with a walking stick during their morning meeting at the base of the bridge. A Vector foreman told police that Salisbury, who had been living near the bridge in a tent, had been threatening his crew for several days, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County circuit court by Officer Emma Paranto.
The company’s construction superintendent told police that Salisbury had been acting “very aggressive” and that he was worried for his employee’s safety, Paranto said in her affidavit.
Salisbury was released June 20 on the condition he have no contact with the construction crew.
Salisbury was arrested in 2001 and 2008 for failing to register as a sex offender, according to Lincoln County court records.
