FOREST GROVE, Ore. — Police have arrested a Forest Grove man suspected of shattering car windows with a slingshot in multiple incidents since last year.
According to the Forest Grove Police Department, the agency started an investigation in October 2023 when it received multiple reports of vehicle windows being shot with BBs, ball bearings and "other unknown objects" while motorists were driving along E Street and Pacific Avenue, near Tom McCall Upper Elementary.
By November, the agency said, police still had not identified a suspect and the incidents seemed to have stopped.
But the incidents started again this month, with multiple people reporting that their windows were shot at with BBs or ball bearings in the same area, where Pacific Avenue curves and becomes E Street. By late May, a total of 12 people had reported damage to their vehicles.
On Friday, Forest Grove officers and detectives coordinated to track down the suspect. Around 10:30 p.m. that night, officers found and arrested someone on E Street near Pacific Avenue, identified as 28-year-old Caleb Spurlock of Forest Grove.
According to police, Spurlock had a slingshot and a container of ball bearings with him when he was arrested. Officers later learned that yet another passing vehicle had been shot with a ball bearing just minutes before Spurlock's arrest.
On Wednesday night, Cameron Von Clevenger said she was driving near Southwest Pacific Avenue and E Street when her back driver's side window shattered. She's relieved by news of the arrest, but said she assumed the person responsible was a kid, trying to pull a prank.
"Finding out that it was a 28-year-old man was a little bit of a bummer for sure," said Von Clevenger. "Just to think an adult is out there doing this kind of stuff."
Spurlock was taken to the Washington County jail on multiple counts, including for first- and second-degree criminal mischief, unlawful use of a weapon, reckless endangering, as well as third- and fourth-degree assault.
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