Olympia police arrest man after reports of gunshots near Ensign Road encampment
.jpg "The Olympia Police Department was dispatched at around 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning to the 3300 block of Ensign Road NE after people reported hearing a gunshot and commotion along the roadway.")
Olympia police Department were dispatched at around 4:30 a.m. Saturday to the 3300 block of Ensign Road Northeast after people reported hearing a gunshot and commotion along the roadway.
Police Lt. Paul Lower said when officers arrived at the scene, they couldn’t immediately find the cause of the disturbance, but they believed they heard a couple more gunshots in the area.
Officers searched along the roadway and inside RVs, cars and other vehicles in the homeless encampment for anyone involved in the situation. As they went, others who live in the area told officers they heard what sounded like more gunshots and firecrackers.
As patrol officers made their way up the road, they found pools of blood that led to a small passenger vehicle parked near two larger RVs with two men sitting inside. Lower said the man in the driver’s seat had a knife in his hand and a handgun sitting between the two seats. The man in the passenger seat had severe facial injuries.
Police removed both men from the car and learned the man in the passenger seat lives on Ensign Road and was there when the suspect contacted him, demanding his wallet and money. When the man refused, the suspect fired a warning round into the air. When that didn’t work, the suspect hit the man in the face and dragged him to the car, where he took his belongings and told him he couldn’t leave.
Lower said the suspect told the man to act like he was asleep when he noticed police in the area.
The victim was transported to nearby Providence St. Peter Hospital for severe injuries to his face, including a broken jaw.
The suspect, a 22-year-old man, was booked into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery, kidnapping, aiming and discharging of a firearm, and a handful of Department of Corrections warrants.
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 10:12 AM.
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