White supremacist and antisemitic flyers landed on doorsteps in southwest West Linn. The city issued a formal condemnation, and the West Linn Police Department opened an investigation.
The literature appears to have been distributed by the Northwest Front, a group that seeks to establish an independent state for white supremacists in the Pacific Northwest, the West Linn Tidings first reported Wednesday, Oct. 21. The materials referenced Ian Cranston, whose manslaughter conviction in a 2021 Bend nightclub shooting was reversed by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
An individual alerted police about the literature, but the WLPD said it was not yet sure of the full extent of the distribution, according to the Tidings.
"The WLPD is aware of the incident and will determine whether additional action is warranted," the city posted on social media.
"Messages intended to intimidate, divide, or make members of our community feel unwelcome are contrary to the values we share as a City," the post said.
The Cranston case
Cranston, 32, of Redmond, fatally shot Barry Washington Jr. outside the Capitol nightclub in downtown Bend in 2021. Washington was Black and unarmed. Cranston is white. The shooting sparked racial justice protests in Central Oregon.
A Deschutes County jury convicted Cranston of first-degree manslaughter in 2022 and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The jury acquitted him of second-degree murder.
In November 2025, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, ruling that the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury about Oregon's self-defense law, specifically that a person has no duty to retreat before using deadly force, OPB reported. Cranston was released on bail.
His retrial, originally set for Oct. 8, has been pushed to Dec. 8, Your Oregon News reported. A trial readiness hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1.
How to report
The West Linn Police Department encourages anyone who received the materials to contact non-emergency dispatch at 503-635-0238.
Residents can also call the Oregon Department of Justice's Bias Response Hotline at 1-844-924-BIAS or submit a report online through the state's crime reporting portal.
