Reward Offered After Engineer Shot

Montana Rail Link is offering $5,000 for the for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot a pellet or BB gun at a moving train near Rathdrum and injured the engineer.

Engineer Richard Jones, 46, was hit in the face by a pellet or BB earlier this month as his train was headed west, said Lynda Frost, spokeswoman for Montana Rail Link.

The BB or pellet went through his glasses and lodged between his nose and cheekbone, she said.

It’s still embedded, but doctors expect to remove it soon.

The shooting occurred around 8 p.m. Sept. 10. The engineer did not see the shooter. The Burlington-Northern Santa Fe freight train was about a quarter-mile east of Rathdrum at the time.

A joint investigation by BNSF, Montana Rail, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department and Rathdrum police has uncovered nothing.

“We have no leads at all,” Frost said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: REWARD Anyone with information can contact Montana Rail Link’s chief of security at 1-800-338-4750 or 406-240-4552.