Biography
Chase Payton Grijalva is a 30-year-old former U.S. Army mechanic from Portland, Oregon. Over a roughly two-week stretch in late May and early June 2024 he shot out 17 city red-light and speed-enforcement cameras across 12 separate incidents, beginning May 27, 2024 at NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Lloyd Boulevard. He was arrested on June 10, 2024 after a witness identified him near SE 122nd and SE Stark; after a Miranda warning he admitted to police that he had been shooting cameras for more than a week.
On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Lavin sentenced him to 24 months in Oregon state prison followed by five years of probation, with an additional five-year suspended prison term contingent on probation compliance, and ordered him to pay $55,548 in restitution. Total camera damage was estimated at roughly $500,000. He pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful use of a firearm, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, and one count of first-degree criminal mischief.
Supporters frame the case as a disproportionate punishment for a sustained act of civil disobedience against municipal surveillance infrastructure and have flagged that arresting officers used force during the June 2024 arrest. Critics view it as a straightforward case of repeated firearm-related criminal mischief. The case is logged here because of the anti-surveillance protest framing in the public discussion; the entry is neutral and does not endorse either characterization.
