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Family's quick exit from van deters gunman Occurs in parking lot outside Medford Carl's Jr. By BILL KETTLER A meal stop in Medford on Monday turned into a close encounter with a gunman for a California family. Medford police said a man carrying a chrome revolver briefly entered a car driven by Dina Fischer, 32, of Sacramento, a few minutes after 4 p.m. Fischer, her 2-year-old daughter, and her parents, Marion and Letha Nottingham, of Sacramento, were returning to their van after eating at Carl's Jr., at 2497 Crater Lake Highway. Police Sgt. Tom McCleary said Fischer unlocked the doors of the van and was loading her daughter in the vehicle from the passenger-side when the gunman opened the driver's door and climbed in. "She saw the gun, grabbed the girl and they all ran back to Carl's Jr., yelling for help and asking somebody to call 911," McCleary said. McCleary said the gunman got out of the van without saying a word and ran through several adjacent parking lots and down Hilton Road toward Bear Creek. He said the victims described their assailant as a man in his 20s, standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with shoulder-length hair and glasses, who weighed about 140 pounds He wore a long-sleeved denim shirt and blue jeans. Adrian Wood, a restaurant employee who watched the scene unfold during his lunch break, took off after the gunman on foot. "I saw how upset the little girl was and that made me mad because I've got a kid," said Wood, 25, of Central Point. Wood, a student at Rogue Community College, followed the gunman at a distance through the parking lots of hotels along Highway 62, and down Hilton Road to Biddle Road. The man crossed the freeway and went into the Bear Creek Greenway. "I basically followed the guy until I couldn't follow him any more," Wood said. Medford police took up the search, but lost the man in the vegetation along Bear Creek. Several officers with drawn weapons were visible on Interstate 5. "We beat the bush," McCleary said, "but we couldn't find him." The family resumed their journey home after a long interview with Medford detectives. McCleary said the incident was "the only one that's happened like this that I can remember. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.