Man accused of shooting at RV in his neighborhood appears in court
A man accused of shooting at a motor home that neighbors say dumped sewage in his neighborhood near Olympia appeared in Thurston County Superior Court Friday.
Commissioner Nathan Kortokrax found probable cause for the charge of second-degree assault against Richard J. DeForge, 57, and released DeForge on his own recognizance. However, DeForge must surrender his firearms and an antiharassment order will be signed to protect the motor home driver. Arraignment was set for Aug. 13.
DeForge’s lawyer, Robert Flennaugh, said it was not clear in the declaration supporting probable cause what happened to the man who was injured in the incident. It could have been shrapnel or something from the car, he said, not necessarily a shell. Flennaugh also brought up the context surrounding the shooting.
“All the neighborhood wants is their streets back,” the attorney said.
The incident happened Thursday about 6 a.m. on 20th Lane Northwest off Overhulse Road Northwest.
According to witness accounts in charging documents:
One neighbor saw a man appear to close a valve to a septic pipe on a motor home and told a second neighbor he thought the man had just dumped his septic tank. The first neighbor said this was the second time somebody dumped septic waste on his street.
The second neighbor told police that “she has been on high alert for drug activity and for the people who had dumped septic waste on her street.” When she saw a motor home driving on her road, she texted DeForge, her neighbor, about “the suspicious vehicle.”
As the motor home approached the two neighbors, the second neighbor told the first to try to block it. At that point, DeForge was coming toward them on an electric scooter.
The second neighbor said she approached the motor home driver’s window and asked, “Why would you do this?”
DeForge tried to get the motor home to stop on foot. From “a couple feet behind the vehicle,” DeForge pointed his gun at the motor home’s tires and fired two or three times. He did not shoot at the driver, according to the first neighbor. The second neighbor said it looked like DeForge shot at one of the motor home’s tires, then started shooting at the back of the vehicle.
Once the motor home stopped, the second neighbor said DeForge was able to get the injured driver out of the vehicle.
The driver had a “small hole behind his right ear,” according to the charging documents, but it wasn’t clear if he had been shot or something else had hit him. According to charging documents, a detective contacted the driver at the hospital and he “only had a superficial wound.”
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