Repeat felon arrested in Thurston County after firing shots during pursuit
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office arrested a repeat felon early Friday morning after an attempted commercial burglary, a pursuit near Old Highway 99 and shots fired.
Sheriff Derek Sanders posted about the pursuit on his social media and included dashcam and bodycam footage, which shows the incident happened just after midnight Oct. 31.
Sanders said deputies were originally dispatched to a commercial burglary in progress near Old Highway 99. A neighbor had called, advising that an unknown suspect was inside of a shop and attempting to steal a tractor inside by ramming the doors open.
Sanders said when deputies arrived, they found a commercial building with substantial damage, a cut open gate, and a white pickup truck fleeing the scene. Deputies took off after the pickup.
Sanders said Chehalis Tribal Police were able to set out a spike for the truck. A TCSO sergeant deployed a grappler, which stopped the pursuit after about 2 and a half minutes. The suspect fled on foot near Gibson Road Southwest.
He said a K9 unit was deployed and began tracking the suspect, at which point the person opened fire. Sanders said units took cover and retreated to obtain their AR-15s and set a perimeter as SWAT members responded.
The K9 unit located the suspect a short time later in thick brush. Sanders said he responded to the scene and tried to negotiate with the suspect, who threatened to shoot at deputies.
“When I asked him to drop the gun, he stated, ‘The only way I’m dropping this gun is after I pull the trigger,’” Sanders said.
He said the suspect surrendered after about 30 minutes of negotiating.
Sanders said it was learned during the investigation that the truck the suspect was driving was stolen during a burglary and the suspect did thousands of dollars in damage to the building.
Sanders said it appears the suspect was attempting to steal power equipment and tractors along with the truck. The suspect is a six-time convicted felon for crimes such as dealing methamphetamine, possession of stolen property, eluding police, and burglary, with 13 additional misdemeanor convictions for crimes such as assault, resisting arrest, and reckless driving.
Sanders said the suspect was medically cleared before being booked into Thurston County Jail for suspicion of first-degree burglary, auto theft, first-degree theft, first-degree attempted theft, first-degree malicious mischief, attempting to elude, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
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