Man fatally shoots one person, then wounds only witness months later, Oregon cops say
A man accused of fatally shooting another man after an argument and then shooting at and wounding the only witness 18 months later is headed to prison, Oregon officials said.
Jacob Fitzgerald was sentenced to 34 years behind bars after pleading guilty to multiple charges, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in a March 12 news release.
Fitzgerald’s attorney declined to comment in a March 13 email to McClatchy News.
Fitzgerald, now 24, kicked Otis Abner out of a car in Portland in August 2022 after an argument, and then fired at him more than once from the other side of the street, prosecutors said.
“Abner was struck one time and died at the scene” of the early morning shooting, according to prosecutors, and Fitzgerald then torched the car later in the day.
Fitzgerald’s then-girlfriend had been riding with them, and she was the only witness, prosecutors said.
In February 2024, after more than a year had passed, Fitzgerald “fired several shots into the trailer” where his ex lived with her new boyfriend, prosecutors said.
She was injured when one of the bullets hit her arm and face, per the release.
Fitzgerald was arrested the following month, Portland police said.
He agreed to plead guilty to charges including first-degree manslaughter, first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault, among others, according to prosecutors.
Deputy District Attorney Andrew MacMillan said the sentence was “unusually high” for a plea agreement but “is just given the circumstances,” per the release.
He called Fitzgerald “a dangerous man who left a trail of destruction over the last few years.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Man fatally shoots one person, then wounds only witness months later, Oregon cops say."
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