Members of the group of conspirators watched Turner 's office , home and car , and discussed methods to assassinate him , hoping that his death would hinder the efforts of the federal investigation into Rajneeshpuram . Their plan was to shoot Turner in the garage of the federal office building where he worked , in Portland , Oregon , but the conspirators also debated whether to murder Turner in downtown Portland or closer to his home . After spending multiple nights watching Turner 's house , the conspirators decided on the parking garage because they felt it would be too risky to murder him on the drive to or from work , or in front of his home . Turner had a reserved parking spot in a federal garage underneath Terry Schrunk Plaza in Portland , Oregon . In an affidavit given to the FBI , conspirator Alma Peralta described how the perpetrators decided on the federal parking garage as the location : " Shanti Bhadra [ Catherine Jane Stork ] said this seems like a good place to bump this fellow off . "