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A camper was shot and killed by a fellow camper at Riverside Park in Grants Pass on Sunday evening, according to the Grants Pass Police Department.

The name of the deceased, a male, was withheld pending notification of next of kin.  Charles J. Smith, 34, of Grants Pass was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

Dozens of homeless people camp at the park in tents and vehicles on any given day.

“Based on preliminary information, it is believed both the decedent and Smith were utilizing Riverside Park to rest overnight,” police said in a news release issued Monday.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Josephine County Circuit Court by Grants Pass police Det. Justin Hoy, Smith and the other man physically fought, but Smith walked off, retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and came back and shot the other man in the neck.

Smith then drove off, but was spotted by a Josephine County Sheriff’s Office sergeant about two miles away and was arrested with the help of an Oregon State Police trooper, the affidavit stated. Investigators back at the scene of the shooting found the victim’s knife in a sheath. The shooting took place about 8 p.m., near the park’s boat ramp.

Smith was arraigned Monday and ordered held without bail, pending a hearing set for 1:30 p.m. May 22.

The presence of the campers has been cause for widespread community concern. The Grants Pass & Josephine County Chamber of Commerce moved its long-running Concerts in the Park series from the park to the county fairgrounds last year and again this year out of concern about campers. For the same reason, an annual car show held at the park as part of the city’s large Back to the ’50s event in July has been moved to the fairgrounds this year.

The community’s annual five-day Boatnik Festival, a charity event organized by the Grants Pass Active Club, is due to kick off at the park Thursday, May 25, with a five-day run of carnival rides, boat races and fireworks.