3 violent deaths in Eugene-Springfield area since Friday

EUGENE, Ore. — The Eugene-Springfield area has seen a spike in violent crime over the past three months, including three deaths since Friday.

The Register-Guard reports that murders, suicides and shootings have resulted in the deaths of 12 people over the summer in the area. Eugene averages about three murders in an entire year. Springfield averages about two.

Most recently, two incidents on Friday and Sunday resulted in the deaths of three people. On Friday, Eugene police say 33-year-old John Ramsey Tainton-Platts was shot and killed by his girlfriend’s ex-husband Nicholas Hazel, who then shot himself. On Sunday, 17-year-old Justin Lee Gardner was shot and killed in a Eugene apartment.

Over the summer nine of the deaths involved firearms, two involved a knife and one man hanged himself.

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