A Polk County jury has found 38-year-old Joseph Andrew Wirkkala guilty of second-degree murder and 10 other charges for the August 2025 shooting death of 60-year-old Jacob Collazo at Salem's Wallace Marine Park, and a judge has sentenced him to life in prison with parole eligibility not possible for at least 32.5 years. Wirkkala was on transitional leave from prison and had an active arrest warrant at the time of the killing.
According to KATU, Collazo was fatally shot near the gravel pit area of the park, and Wirkkala was identified as a suspect and caught later that same day. Polk County Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew T. Wilson, who co-prosecuted the case, said the sentence might leave Collazo's family feeling that some measure of justice had been served. Wilson also expressed gratitude to Salem police officers for their investigation and offered condolences to Collazo's family, per the same outlet.
The jury's verdict, reached after roughly two hours of deliberation following a three-day trial on August 26, went far beyond the single murder count. Court filings reported by the Polk County District Attorney's Office show Wirkkala was convicted of 11 total charges, including attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of menacing, two counts of reckless endangerment, attempted first-degree assault, attempted fourth-degree assault, and felon in possession of a firearm. The trial was presided over by Polk County Circuit Judge Norman R. Hill, with Wilson prosecuting alongside Deputy District Attorney Connor Amundson, the office noted.
A Domestic Violence Backstory Behind the Park Shooting
Court records reviewed by the Salem Reporter identify three distinct victims tied to the case: Collazo, Wirkkala's then-partner, who was targeted in six counts categorized as domestic violence, and a second male victim named in a reckless endangerment charge. Initial reports indicated the shooting followed a domestic violence incident involving Wirkkala. Wirkkala had also been charged with recklessly endangering a third person, according to KATU.
The overnight shooting sent multiple 911 calls to dispatchers just after 1:30 a.m. on August 27, 2025, reporting gunshots at a campsite in the wooded northern section of Wallace Marine Park. Responding Salem police officers had to physically carry Collazo out of the woods to reach waiting paramedics, the Salem Reporter's account of the incident states. He was later transported to Salem Hospital, where he died.
Homeless Outreach Officers Helped Crack the Case
Because several key witnesses were unsheltered residents living in the park, the Salem Police Department's Homeless Services Team played a critical role in assisting Violent Crimes Unit detectives, locating witnesses for interviews and arranging their grand jury testimony, according to a report from KATU News. Outreach officers were able to lean on existing community trust in the encampment to secure testimony that might otherwise have been difficult to obtain.
Wallace Marine Park has long served as a primary camping location for roughly 200 unsheltered residents, a scale of encampment that prompted officials from Marion County, Polk County, and the City of Salem to launch joint interagency meetings in December 2025 to address crime, safety, and shelter alternatives, the Salem Reporter reported. The park sits within Polk County even though the majority of Salem lies across the Willamette River in Marion County, a jurisdictional split that puts homicides at the park under the prosecutorial authority of the Polk County District Attorney's Office, as Hoodline has previously reported.
Life Sentence Rooted in State Law
Under Oregon Revised Statutes § 163.115, a conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with a statutory minimum period of confinement before parole eligibility can even be considered. That statute underpins the 32.5-year minimum confinement period handed down in Wirkkala's case. Separately, Oregon's Short-Term Transitional Leave program, established under ORS § 421.168, permits eligible incarcerated individuals to reenter the community up to 120 days before their projected release date to secure housing, employment, or transitional support — a status that is subject to immediate re-incarceration for any violation. Wirkkala was on that leave, with an active arrest warrant already pending, when the shooting occurred.
Collazo's death was the second of two unrelated homicides that struck Salem within an hour of each other overnight, following the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Nicholas Micheal MacFawn near 40th Place and Southeast Carson Drive, the Salem Reporter noted in its initial coverage. Police conducted separate investigations into the two killings and determined they were isolated incidents. Wallace Marine Park, which also hosts community events like the Ironman 70.3 Oregon triathlon, remains at the center of ongoing local debate over crime, safety, and shelter policy for the unsheltered residents who call it home.
