Oregon mayor arrested for shooting at family’s car in Halloween road rage incident

Mayor Dowen Jones faces one count of attempted murder and four counts of attempted assault in the first degree

An Oregon mayor was arrested for attempted murder after he allegedly shot bullets into the side of a car carrying a young family in what authorities described as a road rage incident.

Rufus Mayor Dowen Jones, 47, was taken into custody on attempted murder and assault charges on Tuesday, one day after the mayor of the town, located 100 miles east of Portland, had allegedly fired rounds into the side of a passing car, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

On Monday at approximately 8.43pm, a car carrying two adults and two children, five and seven years old, noticed that the SUV travelling south ahead of them on Highway 281 was “driving erratically”.

The family continued to travel along behind the weaving car until the driver of the SUV pulled over abruptly, causing the driver of the trailing car to register some concern.

When the family’s car slowed down beside the now parked SUV to get a better description of the vehicle and its driver, “for the purpose of reporting the erratic driving to the Sheriff’s Office”, the report noted, events took a grave turn.

“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,” local authorities said.

There were no injuries reported from the shooting, but the sides of the family’s car were damaged from the multiple rounds fired from the man’s handgun, authorities said.

Deputy Joel Ives with the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said two adults and two children were traveling south of Hood River on Halloween when they noticed an SUV driving erratically in front of them (KGW/video screengrab)

By Tuesday, the sheriff’s office had identified the SUV as belonging to Rufus mayor Jones.

Mr Jones faces one count of attempted murder and four counts of attempted assault in the first degree.

Records from the Northern Oregon Corrections indicate that the 47-year-old mayor’s bail, set at $100,000, has not been paid and he is being held in custody in The Dalles, located 26 miles west of the town of Rufus where Mr Jones was elected mayor with 76 votes in 2018, according to OregonLive.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.