An Independence man faces charges alleging he shot two men in Salem on back-to-back days in late September.
Police arrested 20-year-old Aljoze Reyes on Tuesday, about a month after the first shooting, the Salem Police Department said in a news release Wednesday afternoon.
On the night of Sept. 28, detectives from the Salem Police Department responded to a call reporting a crash at the intersection of Northeast Lancaster Drive and Sunnyview Road.
Officers learned a man driving a truck was suffering from a gunshot wound to an extremity and had crashed into a landscape strip, the release said.
The injured driver, a 60-year-old man, “reported he had just been in a dispute with a male individual,” Salem police wrote. “The investigation pointed to Reyes’ involvement in the incident.”
The following night on Sept. 29, patrol officers responded to a report of a victim with a gunshot wound at an an encampment in the Claggett Creek Natural Area in northeast Salem.
Officers found a 36-year-old man by the railroad tracks with a gunshot wound to the chest. Police determined the man was in an argument with Reyes, his acquaintance, “when the gunfire occurred,” according to the release.
“In both incidents, patrol officers provided life-saving medical aid before the arrival of paramedics,” police wrote.
Both victims were transported to Salem Hospital for treatment and have since been released.
Salem police arrested Reyes Tuesday and he was booked into Marion County Jail, where he was being held without bail as of Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors charged Reyes in Marion County Circuit Court with first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon for the Sept. 28 incident, according to court records.
For the Sept. 29 incident, a Marion County grand jury indicted Reyes Monday on charges of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.
Reyes also had two outstanding warrants for cases investigated by Salem police, one for failing to appear for a charge of attempting to elude police and another for menacing.
His arrangement is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Marion County Criminal Court Annex.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
