Four people charged in connection with June 18 attack in Olympia’s ‘Jungle’
Four people have been charged in connection with an prolonged assault that almost killed a 38-year-old woman at a homeless encampment on the east side of Olympia last week.
Three of four people have been accused of first-degree attempted murder and other related crimes while a fourth has been accused of assault, according to court records.
The incident reportedly occurred June 18 at “The Jungle,” an encampment in a wooded area off the 3200 block of Martin Way East. That afternoon, witnesses called 911 to report a woman walking west while covered in blood. An Olympia police officer contacted the woman and first responders transported her to Providence St. Peter Hospital for treatment.
Detectives investigated the incident and determined a group of people surrounded and attacked the woman as she returned a bike to a different person in the Jungle. This group of people reportedly accused her of being connected with an overdose death at a permanent supportive housing project where she lived.
She suffered a “group beatdown” in which she was repeatedly punched and kicked as well as struck by a bat and a gun, according to court records. One of the suspects allegedly pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger several times but it did not fire.
The person who she was returning the bike to intervened and she managed to walk out of the Jungle, but not before being sprayed with bear mace by another person.
Olympia police suspect at least seven people took part in the incident and three suspects remain at large. Police Lt. Paul Lower previously described those three as two additional suspects and a person of interest in the incident.
Who are the four people in custody?
Bryce Lockhart, 35, and Jamie Lombardi, 42, were booked into the county jail on June 18, according to the jail roster. They each attended a preliminary appearance in Thurston County Superior Court two days later.
Judge John Skinder set bail at $250,000 for Lockhart, court records show. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged him with seven crimes on Tuesday.
Those crimes included first-degree attempted murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree assault, first-degree conspiracy to commit assault, second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and felony harassment, threat to kill.
Meanwhile, Lombardi was charged Tuesday with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and carrying a dangerous weapon, brass knuckles. Skinder set bail at $50,000 in her case.
Cassandra Hough, 30, and Ashley Westlund, 37, were booked on June 20. Both attended their preliminary appearance hearing on Monday. Skinder set bail at $250,000 bail for Hough and $350,000 for Westlund.
On Wednesday, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Hough and Westlund with six counts: first-degree attempted murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree assault, first-degree conspiracy to commit assault, second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment.
What did the investigation find so far?
A probable cause statement details the investigation from the perspective of law enforcement.
At 3:45 p.m. June 18, citizens began calling 911 to report a bloodied woman walking down Martin Way. A city worker spotted the woman as well and tried to talk to her, but she said she did not want police involved.
An Olympia police officer eventually found the woman near a supermarket and convinced her to sit down by a bus shelter. There, she used a water bottle to wash her face because she had been sprayed with bear mace.
She told officers she was assaulted by a group of people and she identified several suspects. She said her assailants believed she was involved in the overdose death of a person at a permanent supportive housing project.
The Olympia Fire Department responded to assist and transported her to Providence St. Peter Hospital for treatment.
Detectives later went to the scene of the attack, a large campsite inside the Jungle belonging to a known leader.
The statement describes the person’s camp as a “sprawling structure with multiple tents, a treehouse and hardened areas of tarps and lumber.” Some areas were openly accessible while other areas were gated and covered.
A detective found blood on the ground of one of the accessible areas and two baseball bats nearby.
Another detective met the woman at the hospital, where she was still covered in fresh and dry blood. Her face was swollen and her clothes were scuffed with dirt.
The detective met the woman again the next day after she had been released from the hospital. This time, her left eye was swollen and purple and she had staples in her head to address major injuries.
The woman told the detective she went to The Jungle that day to buy a bicycle for $40 from the known leader. The leader welcomed her and she paid for the bicycle.
Later that day, she went back to The Jungle to return the bicycle because there were issues with it. This time the leader was not present so she sat and waited.
As she did so, a different man approached her and punched her in the face “with all his might,” causing her to fall over. The man accused her of killing a person who died in an overdose death two weeks prior.
The man yelled at her and continued to punch her. He called over another person and directed them to call a third person to the scene.
The man prevented the woman from leaving and forced her to sit down in a swivel chair. The third person then arrived with a silver revolver. He struck her with the gun and another person punched her in the face.
The person with the gun put a single bullet in the cylinder and spun it several times. He then pointed it at her and pulled the trigger multiple times. However, the gun did not fire.
The woman told the detective she was “terrified” and thought she was going to die.
She said Westlund then struck her with a bat more than a dozen times in the head, stomach and back. All the while, other people in the group encouraged Westlund and yelled at the woman.
By then a group had formed and they continued to punch and kick her. She said Lockhart punched her with an upper cut and she was then hit with the bat again.
The woman said she fell in and out of consciousness as the group continued to assault her. All the while, she said she thought of her husband and worried no one would know where to find her body.
The statement notes that Olympia police have previously recovered homicide victims in The Jungle who have been disposed of in burn pits or dumped in the woods across the street.
She said Hough was the last person to strike her with the bat.
As the attack unfolded, the man with the gun loaded another bullet and attempted to shoot her again, but the gun failed to fire once more.
The known leader eventually arrived and yelled at everyone to stop. She said the group got mad at this person, saying she would report them.
The woman promised not to say anything and begged to return to her husband. In response, she said one of the assailants threatened to kill her in front of her husband and then kill him next.
The leader insisted everyone leave, so the woman got up and walked out of the encampment. She said Lockhart and two other people searched her and took her wallet and keys from her before she left.
Two of those people, including the one with the gun, followed her as she walked away. They prevented her from taking the route she wanted and made her stop at multiple other camps in The Jungle.
During those stops, one of them encouraged others to assault her and at least one unidentified person did so.
They continued to walk to Lombardi’s camp, ostensibly so she could get fresh clothes that were not covered in blood.
She said Lombardi threw a shirt at the woman and immediately sprayed her with bear mace. The mace also affected the two people who were following her, giving her a chance to escape.
The statement says detectives interviewed several witnesses and suspects to corroborate the woman’s account.
