No bail for 72-year-old Olympia man accused of stabbing police, imprisoning neighbor
.JPG "The Thurston County Courthouse.")
A 72-year-old man who was shot after allegedly stabbing two Olympia police officers on March 31 is being held in Thurston County jail without bail.
Jerry Edmon Fordyce attended his preliminary hearing in Thurston County Superior Court on Thursday. Police booked Fordyce into jail Wednesday, over a month after the incident with the two Olympia police officers.
Deputy Prosecutor Brandi Archer alleged Fordyce stabbed the officers after they tried to arrest him at his home for allegedly starting a fire outside his neighbors’ apartment. Officers shot him twice during the altercation.
First responders then airlifted Fordyce from the field at Capital High School to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma in critical condition, The Olympian previously reported.
Both officers also were taken to a hospital, Lt. Paul Lower previously said, but they were later released to recover at home. One was in serious but stable condition the night of the shooting, Lower said, and the other suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
After the incident, the Lacey Police Department took the lead in the investigation as part of the Capital Metro Independent Investigative Team.
On Thursday, Archer filed a motion requesting Fordyce be denied bail because he allegedly committed crimes that may be punishable by life in prison. If the motion was denied, Archer requested bail be set at $5 million.
“This defendant is a violent individual who gives great risk to our community citizens and our law enforcement that strives to protect those citizens,” Archer said. “The risk to the community is incredibly strong in this case and the state does believe that no bail is appropriate.”
Fordyce is accused of first-degree arson, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment.
Thurston County Superior Court Commissioner Nathan Kortokrax found probable cause for the alleged crimes and set no bail. He said the evidence shows Fordyce has a “propensity for violence that creates a substantial likelihood of danger to the community.”
However, the court may reconsider Fordyce’s bail during a May 18 hearing. Kortokrax set the hearing a day after Fordyce’s arraignment to give his attorney, Patrick O’Connor, a chance to respond to the state’s motion.
O’Connor, who is the Director of Thurston County Public Defense, did not directly respond to the motion because he said he only received it shortly before the hearing.
Still, O’Connor defended Fordyce, saying he had no criminal convictions and had been a member of the community for 27 years. He requested bail be set at $250,000.
Though Fordyce has no criminal convictions, he is party to another case involving the same neighbor he allegedly tried to imprison on March 31.
In that case, he has been charged with second-degree assault for allegedly pepper spraying his neighbor on March 7.
The shooting
A probable cause statement describes the investigation into the March 31 incident from the perspective of law enforcement.
At about 5 p.m. that day, Olympia police officers responded to an apartment complex on the 1300 block of Fern Street Southwest near the Olympia Auto Mall.
The caller told dispatch a resident, later identified as Fordyce, set a fire outside his neighbor’s apartment door and prevented others from putting it out, according to the statement.
At the scene, an officer reportedly found a charred pile of trash, wind chimes and a hummingbird feeder belonging to Fordyce’s neighbor.
Another resident outside the apartment told the officer she saw Fordyce start the fire. She then attempted to put out the fire with a bucket of water, but Fordyce allegedly yelled at her not to and sprayed a small amount of pepper spray at her that missed, according to the statement.
Fordyce then retreated to his apartment as others put out the fire. Another resident who observed the altercation with the first resident corroborated her story.
The officer contacted the resident allegedly targeted by Fordyce and he accused Fordyce of trying to kill him, according to the statement.
He alleged Fordyce tried to trap him inside his apartment by applying super glue to his locks and in the seam of the door. Upon closer inspection, the officer reported finding a super glue-like substance on the door.
After talking to witnesses, officers tried to contact Fordyce at his apartment. Fordyce allegedly opened his door slightly, pepper sprayed an officer and then retreated into the home, according to the statement.
A designated crisis responder later arrived to try talking to Fordyce but he did not respond. After some time, the statement says four officers entered the apartment with a riot shield to arrest Fordyce.
The statement describes the apartment as a cluttered mess that prevented easy movement. Though the officers repeatedly called out for Fordyce to present himself, he did not appear.
Eventually, officers located Fordyce behind a closed door and opened it. The room was dark but they could see Fordyce low on the ground with a “steeled look on his face,” according to the statement.
“Many things happened simultaneously, and everything happened very fast,” the statement says.
An officer stepped and felt a “searing pain” in his right leg as Fordyce swung something, according to the statement. Another officer reportedly screamed in pain and said he had been stabbed.
The first officer reportedly heard two gunshots on his right side and they all quickly “gained control” of Fordyce.
The two officers who were stabbed were wounded in their right legs above their knees, according to the statement. Investigators later determined they were stabbed by a machete with a sharp edge and saw-like edge.
Detectives from the Yelm and Lacey police departments interviewed Fordyce, according to the statement. He allegedly admitted to stabbing the officers to “punish” them and claimed it was self-defense.
Fordyce reportedly said he regretted the action, saying “I did something reprehensible.” He denied he aimed to kill the officers or dismember them.
When asked why he wanted to punish them, he allegedly said, “It was a stupid thing to do.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 1:44 PM.
