Driver fires AR-15 at deer from car, then is seen going 117 mph, Oregon cops say
A man was seen shooting at a deer out of his car window before going 117 mph past authorities in Oregon, deputies said.
Someone first called about driver at 7:07 p.m. April 12 near Lebanon, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The caller reported seeing someone shoot at a deer out of their black Mustang, deputies said.
Deputies said another report came in of the same vehicle driving recklessly, “doing burnouts in the middle of the road and racing through the area.”
The driver then sped 117 mph past deputies as they were responding to another call, authorities said.
Deputies said the driver was going toward Albany and was seen “passing vehicles in no passing zones.”
As authorities went looking for him, they got more calls about someone in the same vehicle side-swiping a Mercedes and fleeing, deputies said.
The owner of the Mercedes contacted authorities and said they’d tracked the vehicle down, finding it parked in a driveway, deputies said.
Deputies responded and began looking for the three occupants.
They found the driver, 36-year-old Justin Franklin of Oklahoma, trying to hide in a field and took him to a hospital after he was bit by a police dog, deputies said.
He was then arrested him on these charges:
- Suspicion of attempting to elude a police officer
- Felon in possession of a firearm
- Reckless driving
- Reckless endangerment
- Failure to perform the duties of a driver
His 19-year-old son was also in the vehicle, along with a 20-year-old from Louisiana.
Authorities said they found an AR-15 in blackberry bushes near the field and determined Franklin used it to shoot at the animal.
They couldn’t find an injured or dead deer that night, deputies said, so it’s not known if the animal was ever hit by the shots.
Lebanon is about a 35-mile drive southeast from Salem.
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Driver fires AR-15 at deer from car, then is seen going 117 mph, Oregon cops say."
