Man arrested on assault charges for shooting gun during his quest for narcotics in Olympia

A 30-year-old man was arrested on Sunday morning after discharging a handgun during an argument over narcotics, Olympia Police Lt. Paul Lower said.

Lower said police were dispatched at around 7:30 a.m. Aug. 27 to reports of a man with a gun in the 200 block of Thurston Avenue Northeast in downtown Olympia. Officers spoke with people residing in tents along the road and learned a man had been walking along the tents asking for narcotics.

At some point during the man’s quest, he got into an argument and pulled out a handgun. Lower said the man pointed the gun at the reporting party, then pointed it at the ground and fired once. He then ran from the scene.

Lower said police were given a good description of the man, and they found him later that morning near Market Street and Marine Drive. He was booked into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault.

Ty Vinson

The Olympian

360-357-0201

Ty Vinson covers the City of Olympia and keeps tabs on Tumwater and other communities in Thurston County. He joined The Olympian in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at the Northwest Indiana Times, the Oregonian and the Arizona Republic as a Pulliam Fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription