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Hostage Shot Five Times by Police After Escaping His Brother — Albany, Oregon

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Date
January 6, 2026
Location
Albany, Oregon
Stage
COURT HEARINGS

Last updated:

Evidence

Scene video
Maverick Lyon on the patio outside his family's Albany home after officers shot him, an officer kneeling behind him (surveillance still via Stritmatter Law)

Next expected update: the City of Albany and the officers answer the federal lawsuit

Timeline

  1. Gunshot wounds on Maverick Lyon's back as he recovered in hospital (via Stritmatter Law)

    NEW COURT HEARINGS

    SUMMARY OF RECORD

    Update #1 — Hostage shot five times by the officers sent to rescue him — federal lawsuit filed

    On the morning of Tuesday, January 6, 2026, David Lyon called 911 from outside his home at 1387 Twins Lane NW in North Albany, Oregon. Watching on the family's security camera, he could see his older son, John "Dakota" Lyon, 27 — who had relapsed into drug use and was under post-prison supervision — holding his younger son, Maverick Lyon, 21, hostage at knifepoint in the kitchen. David told the dispatcher how to tell his sons apart: Dakota was shirtless in pajama pants; Maverick wore a long-sleeve gray shirt.

    Maverick, a senior and lacrosse player at Saint Anselm College home on winter break, had picked up a kitchen knife to defend himself. Through a window he mouthed "Help me" to an officer outside. He then escaped through the back door, dropped the knife on the brick patio and stepped out with his empty hands held out where officers could see them.

    Two Albany officers opened fire. Officer Matt Thomas fired twice and Officer Engle Diaz fired five times. Maverick was hit at least five times, in the chest, back and face. As he lay bleeding on the patio, he told the officers: "You shot the wrong guy — he was holding me hostage." The lawsuit his family has now filed says Diaz kept firing after Maverick had fallen and curled into a fetal position, and that officers then ordered him onto his stomach and handcuffed him instead of giving him aid at once. The police department said at the time that two officers fired after responding to a domestic disturbance involving a person with a knife, and that officers rendered medical aid until medics arrived.

    Maverick was rushed to Samaritan Corvallis General Hospital for an eight-hour operation. Surgeons removed half of his right lung, his spleen and his appendix and carried out extensive reconstructive surgery on his digestive system. He spent four weeks in hospital and months in further treatment; he lost his final college lacrosse season.

    Dakota Lyon pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping, unlawful use of a weapon and coercion, and in June 2026 he was sentenced to 77 months in prison. In March 2026, Benton County District Attorney Ryan Joslin ruled the two officers' shooting justified under Oregon law, while calling the outcome "an absolute tragedy."

    On November 4, 2026, Maverick filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Albany, Officers Thomas and Diaz, Benton County and county probation officer Joshua Hall. The suit claims excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, battery and negligence, and says the county had been warned the day before the shooting that Dakota had relapsed and was behaving dangerously, yet no protective action was taken. His parents, David and Laura, said: "I have always believed that when you call 911, help is coming. I never imagined that making that call would leave me wondering if my son was going to survive." His lawyer, Alicia LeDuc Montgomery of Stritmatter Law, said: "This case is about more than a terrible mistake. It is about the constitutional limits on deadly force, the obligation to protect innocent people, and the devastating consequences when law enforcement fails to distinguish someone asking for help from someone posing a threat." The Albany Police Department has declined to comment, saying it has not yet been formally served. The footage from the family's cameras and the officers' body cameras, released with the lawsuit, is now spreading widely online.

    We are following this case and will update it again as soon as new information comes.

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