Larry Eugene Mell, 72, was driving his red 2003 Dodge Ram westbound on Highway 38 near Putnam Valley Road, just west of Drain, Oregon, when a gunshot struck him on the afternoon of November 30, 2021. Emergency crews arrived at about 1:00 P.M., but Mell died from his injuries. The Oregon State Police opened an investigation and have said the shooting may have been accidental, though they have not identified any suspects or announced arrests.

A Navy veteran who survived heart surgery, a brain injury and cancer, Mell lived in Cottage Grove and is remembered by his family as an avid fisherman and crabber, a father of eight, and a grandfather and great-grandfather. On the first anniversary of the shooting investigators renewed a public appeal for anyone who was shooting in the Highway 38 and Putnam Valley Road area that day, or who knows someone who was, to contact them.

Did anyone see activity or hear gunfire in that area on November 30, 2021?