Teen Arrested After Allegedly Going on Violent Rampage Against Grants Pass Homeless

Grants Pass, Oregon- On Wednesday at 11:24 PM, the Grants Pass Police Department responded to a report of a physical assault on a female who had been sleeping in a tent within Tussing Park.

Upon arrival, officers discovered a 50-year-old female victim with severe injuries inflicted by a brutal blow across her face with a large tree branch. The assault left her with a large laceration to her lip and extensive bruising. The victim, whose identity remains undisclosed, recounted to authorities that two male individuals had been rampaging through the park, yelling and attacking tents.

As the victim peered out from her tent to assess the commotion, she became a target of the violence herself, enduring a vicious strike from one of the assailants wielding a thick tree branch. Following the assault, the perpetrators hastily fled the scene in a vehicle, leaving the victim in urgent need of medical attention.

In a disconcerting turn of events, subsequent reports surfaced indicating that the same suspects matching the initial description were involved in attempted assaults at Morrison Centennial Park on Rogue River Highway. However, by the time law enforcement arrived at the scene, the suspects had already left.

Nevertheless, investigative work by Grants Pass Police officers and detectives led to the identification of the primary suspect as 18-year-old Petersen Pearce Amotai, a resident of Grants Pass. Amotai was apprehended and incarcerated at the Josephine County Jail on charges of Assault in the Second Degree and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.

While Amotai is in custody, his alleged accomplice, believed to be a juvenile male, remains at large. Law enforcement authorities are actively seeking any information regarding the assault or the whereabouts of the involved juvenile.

Individuals with details are urged to contact the Grants Pass Police Department at 541-450-6260 and reference case # 24-11329.