Police: Oregon woman shot by husband, ex-sheriff with dementia

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a 75-year-old Oregon woman was hospitalized after she was shot by her husband, a former sheriff who has dementia.

Officers from The Dalles responded to a home Saturday and found Darlena Hill with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. An Oregon State Police spokesman says Hill had surgery at Mid-Columbia Medical Center and was in serious condition late Saturday afternoon.

Though the investigation isn't complete, detectives think the gun fired while 76-year-old Darrell Hill was handling a weapon he mistakenly thought was unloaded.

Hill was elected Wasco County sheriff in 1996 and served two terms. Before that, he was The Dalles police chief.

A 2014 article in The Dalles Chronicle said he was diagnosed a year earlier with rapid progressive dementia.

The Wasco County Major Crimes Team is handling the investigation. The Dalles is 85 miles east of Portland.