Man faces assault with deadly weapon charges

A Ramona man was arrested this week after a heated exchange between him and a photographer on a rural road.

Mark Gordon, 52, was arrested on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor vandalism in connection with an incident that occurred on Rangeland Road on Saturday, according to San Diego County sheriff’s Sgt. Rob Samuels.

The alleged victim, Los Angeles photographer Alex Stone, was using the public road near the Ramona Airport to take photographs of a car when Gordon allegedly drove up in his Ford Excursion and began yelling profanities and demanded Stone and his acquaintances leave. Stone recorded the exchange on his smartphone and turned the video over to authorities on Sunday, leading to Gordon’s arrest later the same day.

“In the video, (Gordon) can be seen intentionally driving his vehicle twice at Stone who was able to jump out of the way to avoid being struck,” Samuels said. “Gordon eventually exited the vehicle and physically assaulted Stone and an acquaintance. During the assault, Gordon knocked Stone’s cellphone from his hand causing damage to the phone. No injuries were sustained by anyone involved and all parties left the scene.”

Gordon was booked into San Diego Central Jail in downtown San Diego shorty before 5 p.m. Sunday in lieu of $30,000 bail, according to the sheriff’s department’s online jail records. By mid-Monday morning, he was no longer in the system.

His arraignment was tentatively scheduled for 1:30 p.m. July 13 at the El Cajon courthouse.

Before Stone contacted authorities, he posted his video on a Facebook page for Ramona residents and on YouTube. Within a day and a half, the Facebook post received 200,000 views and the YouTube posting hit nearly 400,000.