In the early evening of May 29, 2021, a verbal dispute inside a Medford, Oregon dry cleaning business tragically escalated, leaving one man dead. Robert Douglas Houze, a 45-year-old Caucasian male, was fatally shot in the parking lot of Weldon's Cleaners on Crater Lake Avenue. The incident began with a confrontation between Houze and another man inside the establishment.
Following the initial argument, the other individual departed the scene, only to return minutes later driving a black
SUV. Houze went out to the parking lot and approached the vehicle. It was at this point that he was shot by the man inside the SUV. The vehicle then quickly fled the area, leaving Houze with a gunshot wound to the body. Emergency services were dispatched to the scene around 7:57 p.m. Houze was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries shortly after arrival.
Medford Police detectives immediately launched a homicide investigation. They were able to locate the suspect's unoccupied vehicle in the 500 block of Mary Street. The vehicle was linked to a nearby residence, which officers then surrounded. The suspect was identified as 45-year-old Lorenzo Fisher. Investigators made contact with Fisher via his cell phone, and he informed them that he was not at the residence. He then agreed to turn himself in to law enforcement in the neighboring Josephine County.
In the early morning hours of May 30, at approximately 2:26 a.m., Lorenzo Fisher was taken into custody by authorities in Josephine County and was subsequently turned over to Medford Police detectives. Following an interview, Fisher was lodged in jail on charges of Murder, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and Unlawful Use of a Weapon. A search of his residence uncovered a handgun that is believed to have been used in the shooting. The investigation revealed that Robert Houze and Lorenzo Fisher did not know each other prior to the fatal encounter.
