EUGENE, Ore. — An 80-year-old woman from Eugene, who voluntarily contacted 911 to inform them that she had pointed a firearm at her son, has been arrested and charged.
Yvonne Ballew of Ivy Glen Drive told dispatch that she had tried to hit her son with the pistol and had pointed the weapon at him.
The altercation between Ballew and her 50-year-old son occurred on Sunday afternoon. The son told officers that his mother had held the gun under his chin and that she had struck him twice with the barrel of the gun.
The officers uncovered the loaded gun behind a couch cushion.
Ballew was arrested and transported to the Lane County Jail, where she was charged with menacing and the unlawful possession of a weapon.
Tidings Insight
Oregon law separately criminalizes purposely pointing even an unloaded firearm at another person, except in self defense. Menacing is a Class A misdemeanor requiring an intentional attempt to cause fear of imminent serious physical injury.