MEDFORD, Ore. — Police surrounded a Medford neighborhood on Friday evening, arresting a 19-year-old man accused of firing a handgun from the window of a car seemingly at random.
Medford Police officers responded to the 600-block of S Holly Street after getting reports of gunshots hard in the area.
"Witnesses reported the suspect vehicle was a silver Volkswagen Jetta with a black hood which left the scene south on Kenyon Street at a high rate of speed," the agency said.
Officers spread out and began looking through the area, finding the decribed Jetta parked in the 900-block of Kenyon Street with three people inside. When the officers approached, Medford Police said, one of the occupants got out and ran away on foot — ducking into a nearby house. The other two people in the car were taken into custody.
As more officers arrived on the scene, they set up a cordon around the house where the suspect had fled. An hour later, the suspect emerged and was taken into custody. Medford Police said he was identified as 19-year-old Jaime Arturo Fletes.
Investigators eventually found the area on Holly Street where the gunshots had been fired, finding a spent handgun bullet casing in a nearby alley — but no victims or damage to homes.
After getting a search warrant for the involved house, investigators found a handgun of the same caliber as the spent casing. They also found the factory box for the gun and "additional evidence," Medford Police said.
"Through the investigation and interviews it was learned Fletes had been a passenger in the car when he fired the rounds from the handgun as they were driving through the alley," the agency said. "At this time there is no indication that anyone or anything was intentionally targeted by Fletes when he fired the gun."
Police said that the gun belonged to a family member that Fletes lived with. He did not have permission to use the gun, and took it without them knowing.
"It was also learned that during this incident Fletes had pointed the gun at one of the occupants of the car prior to the shooting occurring," Medford Police said.
Fletes faces charges for theft, menacing, unlawful possession of a firearm, and reckless endangering.