Law enforcement have been at the scene of the crime all day Friday in Grants Pass, while the man accused of the shooting appeared in court for an arraignment hearing.
Crews from the Oregon State Police Crime Lab along with the Grants Pass Criminal Division just wrapped up their search shortly after 3pm Friday.
It’s unclear what, if anything they were able to find.
Jon Andrew Meyer Jr., the man accused of shooting and killing a 5 year old girl and injuring a 44 year old adult woman, did appear via video conference in front of a judge at the Josephine County Courthouse Friday afternoon.
The judge did set his preliminary hearing for Monday July 8th at 1pm and bail has been set at $250,000. We spoke with Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Turner about his charges of manslaughter in the 2nd degree, assault in the 3rd degree, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
Turner said “The nature of the charges is that manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the third degree are based on reckless conduct. The charges are not murder because of the fact that the conduct based on the evidence at this point was not intentional and the other statute of a murder of a child under the age of 14 requires intentional or knowing conduct and based on the facts so far we’ve alleged manslaughter in the second degree which when is read means reckless conduct.”
While he is charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun, Turner said that doesn’t necessarily mean a machine gun was used. In fact authorities won’t tell us what gun was used at this point but the definition of the charges is that a fully automatic rifle of some sort was used.
In court we learned that Meyer was served with a restraining order this past Monday. We are still unclear as to why that restraining order was filed or who it was to protect.
Investigators have left the scene for now. We did talk to neighbors today who say they had never seen any of those involved, victims or suspect, in this case before last night.
It’s believed the girl and her mother were visiting someone at the residence. We are unclear as to why Meyer was also in this neighborhood last night. Authorities would not answer our questions in that regards.
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