La Pine, Ore. – Tragedy occurred in a rural La Pine neighborhood where police say a murder-suicide took place Wednesday afternoon.
Jeffrey R. Ford turned a 9 mm firearm on himself after he shot and wounded his son, Jeffrey Thunder Ford, and killed his son’s girlfriend, Brandi Schopper.
The bloodied snow was where La Pine resident, Jeff Little, a retiree, found the younger Ford — whom members of the community called “Thunder” — at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. The Bulletin reports that Little went outside after another neighbor heard the younger Ford screaming for help. Little said he found the 20-year-old Ford lying in the frozen street in his underwear, blood pouring from a gunshot wound on his chest.
Little said the younger Ford was responsive enough to identify the other occupants in the house: his 19-year-old girlfriend and his 56-year-old father.
After finding the younger Ford bleeding in the road, Little and other neighbors grabbed an old sleeping bag to wrap him up. Little then heard a gunshot from in the double-wide trailer home in which the Fords lived, believed to be the shot that killed the elder Ford.
Little said Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived within minutes, and he and others helped them load the younger Ford into a police vehicle.
Neighbors characterized the younger Ford as friendly and social with other community members. But issues, such as shouting matches, were known to have taken place in the past, and police had been to the property as recently as Tuesday to respond to a domestic dispute.
In a news release, Lt. Chad Davis, the lead investigator for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, said the younger Ford called 911 to report his father was pointing a gun at him. The elder Ford shot his son and then shot Schopper multiple times before fatally shooting himself, Davis said. The younger Ford is expected to recover from injuries that were initially life-threatening.
Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Thursday morning that it’s too early in the investigation to decide whether or not to bring charges against the younger Ford.
