Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home police arrested a local man for allegedly shooting his son Saturday night.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting at 1192 38th Ave. at approximately 10:16 p.m.
The person reporting told police that her neighbor, Jerry Ray Milligan, 64, went to her house and asked her to call the police because he had just shot someone, said Police Chief Bob Burford.
Officers arrived and contacted Milligan, Burford said, and Milligan told officers he had shot his son after a struggle.
Inside the residence, Burford said, officers found Jerry Tyler Milligan, 41, of Lebanon dead.
An initial examination at the scene indicated that Milligan died from a gunshot wound, Burford said.
“It appears as though the gun was only fired one time,” said Det. Cyndi Pichardo.
Police seized a .22-caliber pistol from the scene, she said, but they cannot confirm it was the weapon that killed the victim. The victim is scheduled to undergo an autopsy.
Evidence at the scene indicates that an altercation had taken place, she said.
The cause of the dispute and struggle remained under investigation, Pichardo said, so she would not release that detail.
She hopes to have the investigation wrapped up by the end of this week, she said.
The two Milligans were the only ones at home at the time, Pichardo said. Two people were sleeping in a trailer on the property during the shooting, but they were unaware of the incident until police contacted them.
Early Sunday morning, police took the elder Milligan into custody for murder, Burford said.
Milligan is lodged at Linn County Jail under $300,000 bail.
Police have had no negative contact with the elder Milligan, Pichardo said.
The younger Milligan had been contacted in a disturbance and traffic stops, she said. He was arrested in the 1990s for failure to display a license. The last contact local police had with him was in 1997.
He had been out of state, Pichardo said, and only recently had returned to Oregon.
Neighbor Jakc Knudson said he was surprised by the developments down the street,
“It’s really a shock because we ran out all the druggies,” he said. “I’ve never heard any bad things coming out over there.”
Once, he said, he heard a woman yelling at her son, but mostly it’s been quiet.
“I woke up to flashing lights on the street,” Knudson said of Saturday’s events. Police officers were all over the place, on the street, moving around the house and taking pictures. “It was busy all night with all the different police departments here.”
Knudsen didn’t hear the gunshot, he said.
“It’s a great neighborhood,” he said. “It’s a good neighborhood.”
Most of the residents are retired, Knudsen said. “It’s a lot different than when we first got here. It really hit me hard. I mean, what’s this world coming to?”