A city councilman and former mayor of Fort Bragg, California was gunned down while investigating a report of an illegal drug farm there. This won't help Mendocino County's reputation as among the mellowest of narco-hubs.

Jere Melo, a former mayor and current city councilman in Fort Bragg, California, was shot and killed last Saturday while he was out investigating reports of a weed-growing operation in the forests surrounding his town (Melo also worked for a timber company.) The main suspect in the case: Aaron Bassler (pictured), local crazy person. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: