La Pine shooting ruled murder-suicide

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 23, 2016

LA PINE — Blood stained the snow outside a house in a quiet, rural 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.

About 27 hours after the shooting, the quaint neighborhood that residents described as “tight-knit” had largely returned to normal.

Residents of the community bordering La Pine State Park took afternoon strolls down an iced-over Mountain Sheep Lane, flanked on both sides by tall pine forests. But clues from Wednesday’s violence served as reminders of an event that several residents said they never thought could happen there.

The bloodied snow was where Jeff Little, a retiree, encountered the younger Ford — whom members of the community called “Thunder” — at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. 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.

“He was going out of it,” Little said. “A couple times his eyes rolled back, and I got him back awake.”

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.

Authorities were tight-lipped about the incident until late Thursday afternoon. 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.

Thursday afternoon, five investigators were finishing the crime scene investigation. The home, with tall plants showing from the windows, several cars stashed throughout the property and junk piled high on the porch, stood out among the stained-wood cabins and tall, newly constructed homes that made up the bulk of the community. A camper parked in the middle of the front yard had the driver-side door open and several windows broken out.

Four police vehicles and a trailer used as a mobile command center remained on scene, and deputies continued to move in and out of the home. Davis said he expected the crime scene investigation and interviews to be wrapped up Thursday. After consulting with the medical examiner, autopsies will not be performed, he said.

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.

“There have been issues in the past though,” said Nancy Little, Jeff Little’s wife.

While Jeff Little said the younger Ford was friendly and outgoing, the elder Ford mostly stuck to himself. He was known to be a war veteran, Jeff Little said, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. While the community knew of issues in the Ford home, the Littles said they never expected them to turn deadly.

“Nobody ever thought it would come to that,” Jeff Little said.

Part-time neighborhood resident Matti Neustadt Storie said she was coming home from skiing around noon Wednesday when she saw the road blocked off by police. When she asked what was going on, an officer responded, “Your neighbors who have issues were having issues again,” she said.

Several neighbors, including the Littles, visited the younger Ford at the hospital Thursday, where he was making a strong recovery. Jeff Little said when visiting the younger Ford at the hospital, he looked up and apologized for the trouble the situation caused.

“You don’t have to be sorry buddy, you know, I just want you to be OK,” Jeff Little said he told him.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, awieber@bendbulletin.com