Man seriously wounded in parking lot shooting

SPRINGFIELD — A young man was shot in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store about 4 p.m. Saturday after a dispute involving three other people, according to Springfield police.

“One of them is in very serious condition,” Sgt. Russ Boring said at the scene, about 90 minutes after the incident.

Boring said later Saturday night that the victim, who is at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and believed to be in his 20s, took two gunshot wounds to the chest but was expected to survive.

Boring said the dispute involved the victim and another young man and two suspects who fled the scene.

Also described as being in their 20s, the two fled in a blue Ford Thunderbird after the shooting at 2659 Olympic St. and got involved in a chase with Oregon State Police, Boring said.

After the vehicle pulled over on N Street, one suspect was arrested, but the other man ran away and was found hours later, with the aid of a K-9 unit, hiding in a tent in the backyard of a home at 550 West N Street, Boring said. He, too, was taken into custody.

Police did not release any of the names of those involved Saturday night.

An entire area of the Wal-Mart parking lot, on the west side of the store, was cordoned off after the shooting as investigators began looking at evidence.

The victim collapsed near a gray Toyota Matrix hatchback with a California license plate that had a green University of Oregon ‘O’ sticker on the back and a bumper sticker on the back windshield that said “Art Institute of San Diego.”

Two piles of clothing lay on the ground on the vehicle’s right side.

Police had marked evidence, including cigarette butts, by another vehicle, a white GMC SUV, about 100 feet away.

Sgt. Boring said the victim was shot near that vehicle and then staggered back and collapsed by the Toyota.

When asked what happened, a Wal-Mart employee who seemed to be monitoring the situation said, “Nothing good.”