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Woman dies in Goshen shooting
Greg Bolt | The Register-Guard | September 9, 2006

GOSHEN - Lane County sheriff's deputies took three people into custody Friday after a woman was fatally shotgunned as she drove from a home on First Street in what investigators said could have been a drug-related killing.

Deputies would not release the woman's name Friday or the names of three men being questioned in the shooting. The incident happened about 12:30 p.m. and prompted a lockdown of nearby Goshen Elementary School while police searched the area for suspects.

The shooting took place in front of 85784 First St., a small but tidy white house on the main residential street through Goshen. The victim was driving a newer Nissan Frontier pickup truck, which ended up in a shallow ditch opposite the house after hitting a mailbox.

Sheriff Russ Burger said deputies found a marijuana growing operation inside the house, and a dispute over the pot may have triggered the violent incident.

"This may have been one of those drug rip-off type things," Burger said. "We don't know that for a fact. All we know is that there was marijuana being grown in the house where the shooting took place."

He declined to release further details about the shooting while the investigation continued.

Two blocks of First Street were cordoned off with police tape for much of the day as deputies and specialists from the Oregon State Police crime lab processed the scene.

A spray of broken windshield glass could be seen in the street between the home's driveway and the pickup, which had the driver's window and part of the windshield shot out. At least three shotgun casings could be seen in the street.

A man believed to be a resident of the First Street home was among those taken in for questioning.

The man apparently rented the house; calls to the phone number of the listed owner were not answered Friday.

Burger said officers were able to reach the scene quickly after dispatchers received a 911 call reporting the shooting.

A sheriff's deputy and a state trooper both happened to be on patrol on nearby Highway 58 and rushed to the scene.

A state police airplane also happened to be in the area.

Witnesses gave a description of one of the men seen leaving the scene, and with the pilot's help, officers were able to quickly locate him hiding in some brush nearby.

"Fortunately, the plane was in position to observe that suspect, and he was taken into custody by state troopers," Burger said.

Two other men were later found in the area. Burger said he wasn't sure if they were involved in the shooting or whether they would be charged with a crime.

The woman was found in the pickup and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mandie Alderman, who lives about three blocks up the street, said she used to live near the house where the shooting took place.

She described the man living there, who has been in the neighborhood at least four years, as a good person who was very interested in surfing and NASCAR racing. A surfboard could be seen next to the home's driveway.

"He's a really nice guy," Alderman said. "I would not imagine him doing anything like this."

It was not known Friday whether the resident of the house was the man police took into custody or whether the man would be charged with a crime.

Deputies ended the lockdown of the elementary school in time for parents to pick up their children at the close of the normal school day.