A man accidentally shot his girlfriend in the chest in 2025, believing she was an intruder, while her 8-year-old daughter slept in the other room. He’ll serve about 18 years in prison across multiple states for her death.
Joshua Thielbar, 36, was sentenced Thursday for the shooting of 45-year-old Brianne Pardue in a home in the 14400 block of Southeast Harrison Street in Portland. A Multnomah County jury unanimously convicted Thielbar on Sept. 10 of second-degree manslaughter, unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm.
In addition to the roughly eight years he was sentenced to serve in Oregon, Thielbar will also serve 10 years in Montana for the revocation of his probation on a previous homicide conviction.
“Shame on you, and I hope you rot in prison,” Pardue’s daughter, Berkley Briggs, said.
About two dozen of Pardue’s friends and family members attended the sentencing. Family members who gave statements described her as the “resident prankster,” an accomplished athlete, a hard worker and a loving mother.
“Every day since Brianne’s death, I have lived with a never-ending heartache,” her mother, Sheree Pardue, said. “Brianne was so much more than just the victim in this case.”
On March 17, 2025, just after midnight, Thielbar called 911 “hysterical,” his attorneys said, saying Pardue had been shot. While on the phone, Thielbar whispered, “Please don’t put me away for life, I did not mean to do this,” prosecutors alleged in a sentencing memorandum.
Thielbar initially told police Pardue had been holding the gun when she accidentally ran into him and dropped it, causing it to go off. But when police questioned that story, Thielbar eventually admitted he had been holding the gun and had his finger on the trigger but denied pulling it intentionally.
Thielbar alleged Pardue was being harassed by her ex-boyfriend and said people were outside the house constantly, laughing and tapping on the walls. For protection, he said, he borrowed a gun from a neighbor. Thielbar, already a convicted felon, was prohibited from possessing firearms.
That night, Thielbar claimed someone had thrown a toy football through a back window and he had gone to investigate, prosecutors alleged in court documents. Unbeknownst to Thielbar, Pardue followed him, and when he turned around, he bumped into her. Startled, Thielbar fired the gun, prosecutors alleged.
Police never found any evidence of the harassment Thielbar alleged, nor did they find the broken window he described. Thielbar also admitted to having used methamphetamine that day.
Pardue’s then-8-year-old daughter, Berkley, who had been asleep on the couch when the shooting occurred, recalled seeing her mother’s final moments as “the most horrible thing.” She also recounted the trauma of leaving the home with her hands up, surrounded by police pointing guns at her.
“I am tough and resilient just like my mom was,” she said. But, she said, “Even though I am strong, I will never be completely healed.”
Thielbar has previous convictions in Montana for vehicular homicide while under the influence of intoxicants and robbery, and federally for possessing a firearm as a felon. He did not speak during the sentencing.
Berkley, who now lives with her paternal aunt, played a recording of her mother saying, “I love you,” from a stuffed toy bunny, for the court.
“Thank you for sharing your bunny with me, that got to me,” Judge Shelley Russell said. “You have been incredibly brave and incredibly grown up, and you’ve had to grow up faster than you should, and I’m sorry.”
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