On April 4, 2024, a fatal shooting at Wallace Marine Park in Salem, Oregon, left 29-year-old Charley Allen Hodges dead and a 25-year-old man wounded in the shoulder. The incident began with a dispute at a homeless campsite over a missing bag that contained weapons. Twenty-three-year-old Arlie Calvin Michael Thompson returned to the park around 3:00 a.m. armed with a pistol, confronted camp residents and held the 25-year-old at gunpoint.

Hodges, who was armed with a shotgun, intervened to protect the man and confronted Thompson. Witnesses say Hodges then charged at Thompson holding a knife in each hand. Thompson backed into berry bushes, threatened to shoot and fired, striking Hodges and the other man. Hodges died of his wounds and the other victim’s injury was not life-threatening.

Thompson was arrested about 12 hours later after police executed a search warrant at his home in the 4800 block of Northstar Court NE in Hayesville. Anyone with information about Hodges, the park campsite or the events that night is encouraged to come forward.