Oregon Mayor Identified as Suspect in Alleged Road Rage Shooting
An Oregon mayor was recently arrested for allegedly shooting at a family of four in a suspected road rage incident.
The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office announced in a press release that they had identified Dowen Jones, the current elected mayor of the city of Rufus, as the suspect in an alleged road rage shooting on Halloween night.
Around 8:45 PM on Halloween, a family of four — two adults and two children (ages 5 and 8, respectively) — was traveling along southbound Highway 281 and came upon an SUV that was driving erratically. Around the 6800 block of 281, the SUV abruptly pulled over, the Sheriff’s office said.
When the driver of the family vehicle slowed to get a look at the driver of the SUV, intending to contact the Sheriff’s Office, a man reportedly got out of the SUV’s passenger side and fired multiple rounds from a handgun, striking the family’s vehicle.
Nobody was struck or injured by gunfire, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The next day, November 1, investigators identified the suspect as Jones. He was arrested in the city of Rufus by Sherman County Sheriff’s deputies and booked at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections on suspicion of attempted assault in the first degree.
Court documents filed Wednesday and obtained by KOIN reportedly show that Jones has since been formally charged with attempted murder and four counts of attempted assault. He remains in custody on $100,000 bond.
Jones was elected mayor of the city of Rufus, a town of approximately 270 people and located about 100 miles east of Portland, in 2018.
