A 19-year-old Wilsonville man pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted first-degree assault and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, nearly a year after he fabricated a 911 call about his girlfriend and then charged at sheriff’s deputies with an axe, prompting them to open fire. Kabril Matthew Evans had been held in Clackamas County jail for 11 months while the case moved through court.
According to Clackamas County, the episode began on December 5, 2025, when deputies contracted to the Wilsonville Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting a domestic disturbance involving a moving white Toyota Prius. The county says Evans was the one who placed the call, fabricating a report that his girlfriend had been stabbed and giving authorities updates on the Prius’s location while claiming he was following it. Evans also told dispatchers he had a knife and an axe inside the vehicle and warned he would not respond well if confronted by law enforcement, the county’s account states.
Deputies Confronted by an Axe-Wielding Man
Deputies located the vehicle near Southwest Stafford Road and Southwest 65th Avenue in unincorporated Clackamas County, where, per the county’s release, Evans unexpectedly got out of the car wearing a mask and wielding an axe. He raised the axe overhead and sprinted toward the deputies, ignoring their orders to stop, the county says. Deputies Madison Stefanovich and Nathan Banfi opened fire, striking Evans three times.
Evans was taken to Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in critical condition and survived his injuries, according to KOIN. As deputies rendered first aid, the county says Evans told them he had fabricated the entire incident, including the story about his girlfriend, and that he had made the call because he wanted to die.
Grand Jury Clears Deputies in Shooting
A grand jury later found that Stefanovich and Banfi were justified in their use of deadly physical force, the county reported. First Assistant District Attorney Scott Healy, who prosecuted the case alongside Jeffrey Nitschke, said the circumstances were extremely traumatic for everyone involved, especially for the deputies.
The station’s report confirms Evans entered his guilty plea on Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court, case number 25CR69125. Healy said he hoped the resolution would help Evans obtain the mental health treatment he needs and reduce the risk of future harm to himself, officers and the community.
Sentence Pairs Jail Time With Mandated Treatment
As part of the plea agreement, Evans was ordered to serve an additional 10 days in jail before entering and completing an intensive inpatient residential mental health treatment program, all under 60 months of formal probation, the county says. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Angela Brandenburg, echoed that hope for Evans’s recovery in a statement posted to its official X account.
“We hope this resolution provides the opportunity for the defendant to get the mental health help he needs to lead a healthy life and not put himself, police officers, and members of the community at such serious risk again,” the district attorney’s office said, according to the sheriff’s office’s post on X.
