EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Eugene Police officers are breathing a sigh of relief after re-arresting Beau Heleman Flynn, a notorious Eugene parolee and accused gang leader who’s been convicted of threatening to kill a witness to a crime.
Eugene Police arrested Flynn on Thursday, November 8. He’s been out on parole for the last two months and according to police, he was not supposed to be in Lane County.
Around noon on Thursday, undercover police officers and Eugene Police SWAT took Flynn down in the parking lot of the Eugene Costco on Chad Drive. Police used a flash-bang grenade to stun Flynn and arrested him shortly after he got out of his car.
“The public should really feel safe knowing that this guy particularly is behind bars. I don't say that about every criminal. This guy is a real bad dude,” says Sergeant Scott McKee of the Eugene Police Department.
When police arrested Flynn, he was not armed but he was wearing body armor. Officers believe Flynn was possibly looking to rob a bank. Earlier in the day, police witnessed Flynn loitering around the U.S. Bank branch on Crescent Drive in Eugene.
"In my 26-year career as a cop, I've only encountered one other guy that had body armor and that guy was ready to do battle . . . I think this guy is ready to do battle too. I mean, wearing ballistic vest: you don't just wear that to keep your body warm, you know? . . . he's looking for armed confrontations,” says Sergeant McKee.
Police say according to the terms of Flynn’s parole, he was barred from stopping in Lane County. In the past few weeks, Eugene Police got word that Flynn was in the area.
Flynn is a notorious criminal according to police. He also has a long criminal history and is one of the key figures in one of Eugene’s first-known gang murders. In prison, Flynn is considered the leader of the Westside Gang.
Flynn’s mother, Mary Louise Thompson, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for organizing Eugene-area teens into a gang. Thompson then convinced the teens to kill 18-year-old Aaron Iturra in 1994. Iturra was going to testify against Beau Flynn, who was accused of being the assailant in a stabbing case that was being prosecuted.
Flynn was also convicted of threatening to kill a witness to the 2000 murder of 18-year-old Casey Jolene Stafek. Stafek was shot in the head near the train tracks on Bethel Drive.
Police are still in the process of searching Flynn’s car and the home he was staying in near Harlow and Garden Way in Eugene. Right now, he’s charged with felon in possesstion of body armor and a parole violation.
Police believe that if convicted, Flynn could go back to prison for another ten to fifteen years.
