RUFUS, Ore. — An Oregon mayor is behind bars following a suspected road rage shooting on Halloween, authorities said.
According to KOIN and KPTV, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said Rufus Mayor Dowen Jones, 47, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the incident, which occurred shortly before 8:45 p.m. Monday near Parkdale.
In a Wednesday news release, the department said a vehicle carrying a family of two adults and two children was traveling “behind an SUV that was driving erratically” on state Route 281. The SUV then “pulled over abruptly,” the release said.
“The family slowed to get a description of the suspect vehicle for the purpose of reporting the erratic driving to the Sheriff’s Office,” the department said. “As the family passed the suspect vehicle, a male subject stepped out of the passenger side and fired multiple rounds from a handgun at the passing family.”
Although the family’s vehicle was damaged in the shooting, no one was hurt, the release said.
[ Read the news release here ]
The next day, authorities tracked down the SUV and identified the suspect as Jones, according to the release. Sherman County sheriff’s deputies arrested and booked him in the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections facility on attempted murder and first-degree attempted assault charges, the release said.