Three days after two men were wounded by gunfire in a dispute near Oakridge, the law enforcement agency in charge of the investigation has still not released the names of the shooting victims or other details of the Thursday night violence.
A Lane County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, replying Sunday to The Herald’s calls seeking an update, said the agency was too shorthanded to provide the requested information.
He provided the name of a detective who he thought might be working the case, but multiple calls by The Herald to that officer were not returned.
Meanwhile, on internet websites, speculation swirled throughout the weekend in Oakridge and Westfir. Highway 58 Herald’s attempts to contact an Oakridge-area resident, purportedly one of the shooting victims hospitalized Thursday night, were unsuccessful. Herald news policy does not permit the reporting of hearsay or unverifiable information gleaned from social media.
Capt. Tim Fox, public information officer for the Oregon State Police, promptly returned The Herald’s Sunday evening request for information. He said his agency only provided assistance to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office and had no reports in the Oakridge incident.
According to a FlashAlert news release distributed Friday, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police responded to a report of two adult males shot with a firearm during a dispute over a vehicle Thursday night at Highway 58 and Harbor Drive, just west of Oakridge. Both were transported to hospitals with multiple gunshot wounds. The release said police agencies throughout the region were looking for an adult male suspect described as armed and driving a blue Toyota Prius.
Identities of the two wounded men still had not been released as of Sunday night. Both agencies responded to reports of the shooting just before 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
The sheriff’s office requested the public’s help in its investigation of the shootings.
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