Eugene, Oregon

From the Eugene Register-Guard of January 13, 2005

Details of fatal shooting start to emerge

Todd Alan Hughes was shot to death Tuesday after a neighbor responded to his girlfriend's cries for help.

Eugene police say Hughes, 43, was assaulting the woman on the sidewalk in front of the ramshackle house they shared at 2020 W. 13th Ave.

The alleged shooter, James Michael Winkelman, 48, lives nearby. He was walking his dog about 6 p.m. when his daughter ran up and told him that a woman was being raped. The girl, 13, ran to call police, and Winkelman walked to the house to see if he could help the woman.

The woman was gone when he arrived, but Hughes soon showed up.

Hughes and Winkelman had some kind of encounter, police said, which ended with Hughes' death.

Winkelman yelled for neighbors to call police, and he waited there until officers arrived, police spokeswoman Pam Olshanski said. Winkelman has cooperated with the investigation, she said.

Officers confiscated two handguns at the scene - one from Winkelman and one from Hughes' body, she said. They located and interviewed the girlfriend, who said Hughes was beating her, but not raping her.

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A subsequent story confirms that the shooting was ruled “justified.”.