Don't mess with Granny!

74 YEAR OLD WOMAN STOPS ATTACK WITH WARNING SHOT

MyColumbiaBasin.com | Local News, Sports, Weather and Information. - Armed woman stops assault

Justin Doss mugshot, 23, was at the skate park and allowing his dog to roam free. The dog aggressively approached Nancy Ashworth, 74, and to fend off a potential attack, she used pepper spray on the canine. Doss didn’t like that. He approached the elderly woman cursing, screaming and shaking his fist. He acted as if he was going to hit her, and then raised his skateboard, holding it much like a baseball bat according to witness accounts and began swinging it at her.

Ashworth was hit once, on the back of the head, but did not suffer a serious injury. Being scared for her life, she retrieved a pistol from her pocket and fired a shot into the air. Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus says he will present the state’s case against Doss to a grand jury tomorrow.

 

NOTE: Police Chief Stuart Roberts confirms that Ashworth had a concealed carry permit and would have been within her rights, by law, if she had shot and killed Doss as he was attacking her.

 

The story has finally been picked up by the nearest TV news station

KEPR CBS 19 - News, Weather and Sports - Pasco, WA

 

There already is a camera covering the Rada Skate Park

See cam6 at the far left

Earlier this summer a camera on the river walk path captured another 23 year old stalking a female jogger while holding the metal pipe he used to bash her skull in.

 

Justin Doss, 23, of Pendleton now faces a charge of second-degree assault in the incident in which he allegedly hit a woman on the head with his skateboard. Second-degree assault requires a judge to sentence a guilty party to at least 5 years and 10 months in prison under Measure 11 requirements, which were approved by Oregon voters in 1994.

MyColumbiaBasin.com | Local News, Sports, Weather and Information. - Charges against skateboarder upped to Measure 11

 

A more detailed article:

Nancy Ashworth, 74, pulled her Ruger .38 caliber revolver and fired a single round into the air last Thursday to fend off an attacker in Pendleton.

That man, Justin Doss, 23, now faces charges, including a serious felony.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts said Ashworth, who recently located to Pendleton from Portland, walked with her dog along the Rudy Rada Skate Park about 6:30 p.m. while Doss was there with his Labrador retriever. The dog was off leash and unsupervised, Roberts said, which is in violation of city laws, and then was aggressive toward Ashworth.

She shot the dog with pepper spray, Roberts said. And while pepper spray isn’t a good deterrent for dogs, it foiled the Lab as Ashworth walked by. But Doss, with skateboard in hand, yelled, cursed and hustled after her, Roberts said.

Doss feigned punching the woman, as though he wanted to make her flinch, Roberts said, then swung the skateboard and struck Ashworth on the back of her head. She removed the revolver from a pocket and fired into the air.

“She didn’t mean to shoot him,” Roberts said. “It was more of a scare tactic.”
Police arrived within minutes. Roberts said Doss had a different version of events, but witnesses supported Ashworth’s side of the fracas. Police hauled Doss to the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton.
Ashworth didn’t suffer a serious injury, Roberts said, but still experienced pain from the blow Tuesday, when Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus took the case to a grand jury. The grand jury indicted Doss on charges of second-degree assault, a felony, as well as misdemeanors of menacing, recklessly endangering another person and second-degree disorderly conduct.

Roberts said Ashworth’s ongoing pain was a factor in the assault charge, which can carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, 10 months in prison. There are exceptions, though, for offenders who don’t have prior serious felony convictions.

Doss could fit that category. Roberts said Pendleton police have dealt with Doss for trespassing, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and similar minor offenses.

Yet Roberts said he wasn’t surprised Doss acted out the way he did, given the crowd he runs with.
But Roberts also expressed concern about Ashworth firing the gun. The bullet traveled somewhere, he said, but it’s hard to say where. It hasn’t been found — but could have been deadly.

Ashworth has a right to have a gun and has a concealed to carry permit, Roberts said, and given the threat she perceived she was within her right to use the gun for her defense. But she also risked losing the gun to a stronger adversary when she took it out during a confrontation, Roberts said.
Roberts said he didn’t think Doss nor Ashworth set out that evening to do harm. And maybe none of it would have happened if the dog was on leash and under control.

Doss remains in jail on $80,000 bond. He has an appearance Thursday afternoon in circuit court in Pendleton where he likely will face charges from the indictment.