HILLSBORO, Ore. (KOIN) — A family is in mourning after a tow truck driver was shot and killed in the parking lot of an apartment complex where he was called to remove some vehicles.
Erin Fitzgerald was driving to work on Thursday morning when she received news that her brother, Patrick Sanford, had been shot. Hillsboro police said Sanford was one of two tow truck drivers tasked with moving vehicles parked at the apartment complex on SE 44th Avenue to the street a short distance away so that crews could restripe the parking lot.
But a tenant got into a disagreement with Sanford. It led to yelling, followed by gunfire.
Fitzgerald told KOIN 6 News her brother, who had owned his tow truck business for nearly 20 years, was just doing his job.
“He saw the man come out and get angry and bang on the tow truck,” she said. “And then the man went away and everybody thought he was leaving. And then he came back with the gun after Patrick got in his truck and walked up to the truck and shot him.”
Fitzgerald said her brother was shot three times in the chest.
Police arrested 42-year-old Matthew McAdoo the same day. He faces 2nd-degree murder charges.
“Apparently, this man knew my brother as a guy who towed his car away three years ago and he came out yelling at Patrick that he had damaged the alignment on his car three years ago. And that’s why he shot him,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t know somebody like that. I sure hope they can find a way to find some kind of peace with themselves. You’ve gotta be such an incredibly angry person to do something like that.”
Fitzgerald said her brother’s longtime friend and employee, Shane, was there.
“Shane ran screaming over to the truck calling Patrick’s name but when he got to the truck, he said Patrick was already gone. He said ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever get that out of my head,'” she recalled.
Sanford leaves behind his new wife and his 15-year-old son. Fitzgerald is trying to raise money to set up a college fund for the teen through a GoFundMe page.
McAdoo was booked into the Washington County Jail without bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 25.