Lewis County Sirens.com

Sheriff Steve Mansfield describes what occurred inside the home off Highway 603 after the armed resident confronted a stranger.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County prosecutor sent a message yesterday, regarding the weekend incident in which a rural Chehalis resident shot and injured a nighttime intruder inside his house.

It appears he acted appropriately in protecting himself and his wife, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said, speaking for his boss, Jonathan Meyer who was out of town.

Meagher said their office will still review the situation, as they will any time someone shoots someone else.

Deputies were called about 4:45 a.m. on Sunday to the 400 block of Highway 603 where the 24-year-old resident said he was asleep with his wife and heard someone talking outside, the person came in the home and then charged him as he stood outside his bedroom door, according to the sheriff’s office.

The identity of the 24-year-old man who fired one shot with a 40 caliber handgun has not been released.

“This is about as straightforward of a case of use of deadly force as we’ve had in a longtime,” Sheriff Steve Mansfield told a press conference yesterday at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.

“As a matter of fact, about the only thing I could say the victim could have done better is he could have fired sooner, fired more often and he could have used a better brand of ammunition,” Mansfield told the gathering.

The gun shot victim was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a bullet wound to his lower abdomen, according to the sheriff’s office. Brian L. Creed, 51, was listed in critical condition on Sunday at mid-day, but by yesterday the hospital claimed he was not listed on its patient directory.

Creed is in the sheriff’s office custody for a probable burglary charge, according to Mansfield. He is at the hospital, but under the full time watch of a deputy, he said.

What Creed was doing in the couple’s manufactured home isn’t clear.

Mansfield said Creed lives on nearby Nix Road and appeared to be highly under the influence of drugs, probably methamphetamine.

The couple’s door had been left unlocked, according to the sheriff.

When the young man told him to stop, to get on the ground, Creed came at him with his arms up in the air, Mansfield said. That’s when the young man fired, according to Mansfield.

“The victim found himself in a fight for his life,” Mansfield said, describing the two men as rolling around on the floor until the resident broke free and held Creed at gun point until deputies arrived.

Mansfield said Creed made comments that “led one to believe he probably didn’t know why he was there in the purest sense of the matter.”

The young man was uninjured, but got a bump on his head, according to the sheriff’s office.

Mansfield emphasized to the gathered news reporters yesterday that the public needs to realize his deputies are not likely to be present at the moment one needs them most.

Whether it means getting a gun or not for protection, folks need to take personal responsibility for their own safety, Mansfield said.

“People need to think through these sorts of things,” he said.

The exterior of the home where this occurred was well lit, according to the sheriff.

Under furthering questioning, Mansfield said people need to always consider if a reasonable person in the same situation would use deadly force.

“It has to be for your life, or another life threatened,” Mansfield said. “It can’t be for your property.”

The young couple, and their neighborhood, happened to be very well prepared, the sheriff said.

They have a block watch group that became very active last year when they realized a three-bedroom house on Nix Road was home to several men transitioning out of prison.

The county pressured it to close it doors, which it did soon after the county filed a civil suit last July regarding alleged zoning violations.

Sheriff Mansfield and block watch captain Bradd Reynolds said yesterday that Creed had recently moved back into the house. He isn’t and hasn’t been a tenant there however, according to the property owner Janice Thompson and the former manager of transition homes, Judy Chafin-Williams.

Thompson said she understands Creed is acquainted with her renters and does visit there. She said she didn’t know much more about him, except she thinks a single man.

“This is the nightmare we all talked about,” Reynolds said of Sunday’s encounter the young couple had with Creed.

The former police officer says he tells neighbors to get guns, but learn how and when to use them.

Mansfield said Creed is a convicted felon and has some misdemeanors, mostly from Cowlitz County.

“Some, I believe some drugs, thefts,” Mansfield said. “Nothing violent like we saw here.”
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Hear an excerpt from the 911 call, here

For background, read “Twenty-four-year-old Chehalis man shoots, wrestles with intruder” from Sunday February 10, 2013, here

New no trespassing signs have gone up outside the rural Chehalis home

Updated at 1:35 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A rural Chehalis resident shot and injured an intruder outside his bedroom door overnight.

Deputies were called about 4:45 a.m. to the 400 block of Highway 603 where the 24-year-old resident said he was asleep with his wife and heard someone talking outside, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

He armed himself with a pistol and a subject somehow got inside, according to the sheriff’s office.

“The suspect, Brian L. Creed, 51, of Chehalis entered the residence and started down the hallway towards the homeowner who was standing in front of his bedroom door to protect his wife in their bedroom,” the sheriff’s office stated in a news release.

Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said the resident told Creed to stop, but Creed charged him.

The resident fired one shot but was then tackled; the resident broke free and held Creed at gunpoint until deputies arrived shortly after 5 a.m., according to Brown.

The sheriff’s office says Creed had been using methamphetamine earlier; he recently moved into a house nearby off Nix Road.

Brown said the intruder was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in stable condition. The 24-year-old resident was reportedly uninjured.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said Creed is in critical condition.

Detectives were on the scene this morning conducting an investigation, according to Brown.

Sheriff Steve Mansfield scheduled a news conference for tomorrow and issued a prepared statement.

“My office works very hard in ensuring people feel safe and secure in Lewis County, however; people have to be prepared to protect themselves in situations like this in their own homes,” Mansfield stated. “Our response times are as fast we can make them but there may be a time when you are by yourself and you are forced to make a life or death decision to protect yourself and your family, like this man did.”

Police tried for at least an hour and half to get a allegedly knife-wielding man to come outside before storming the home.

Updated at 7:49 p.m. and 8:46 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – An hours-long standoff on North Tower Avenue in Centralia ended early this evening when police entered a home and found the subject deceased.

Police Chief Bob Berg said it began with a 57-year-old Centralia man reportedly threatening his wife and sister with a knife. William L. Thomas was suicidal, police said.

When an officer arrived to the house, just north of Fourth Street, Thomas emerged with a butcher knife and then retreated inside, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Thomas’s mother, sister, wife and a family friend were outside and were taken away from the area by police.

Crowds gathered at both ends of the block, which were strung with yellow police tape, and listened as police used a loudspeaker to coax the man outside. A gray armored vehicle parked on the street in front of his home.

Some nearby residents had been asked to leave their homes.

After an hour and half of attempted negotiations, the SWAT team entered and found the man deceased, Berg said. Police later said Thomas is 58 years old.

Detectives are at the scene conducting an investigation, treating it as a crime scene, the chief said. Police didn’t say how Thomas died, only that his cause of death is unknown.

Chief Berg said the department has a “history” with the Thomas, and he was about to go to jail for assaulting one of Berg’s officers. Yesterday, he was upset about a city light crew in the alley behind his house, Berg said.

When officers first arrived about 1:30 p.m., Thomas threatened to stab one of his female family members in the heart, according to police.

This afternoon, officers used various mean to entice him outside, shooting tear gas into the home numerous times before finally breaking through the front door.

They never got any response from him, Berg said.

Tower Avenue, a main route through town, was reopened about 6 p.m.

It was back at the end of April when Thomas was arrested for reportedly grabbing an officer’s arm and slamming it into a gate when police responded to a dispute at the 1000 block of North Tower Avenue. Thomas filed a claim against the city saying the two officers assaulted him damaging his glasses and injuring him.

North Tower Avenue was taped off between Fourth and Fifth streets until around 6 p.m. tonight.

•••

SWAT members creep onto the front porch.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Former Chehalis firefighter Adam Myer was sentenced yesterday to one day in jail in connection with an issue involving the synthetic marijuana called “Spice”.

Myer resigned from the fire department last autumn after an investigation in which Spice wrappers were found in the trash in the fire station building.

Adam Myer

He pleaded guilty in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday to misdemeanor use of drug paraphernalia. A felony count of possession of the controlled substance was dropped.

The synthetic marijuana is one of numerous similar products that used to be available legally for purchase over the counter.

As part of yesterday’s proceedings, the 43-year-old also pleaded guilty to an unrelated separate charge of driving under the influence of Spice.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told the judge that as the drug investigation unfolded, he learned of the DUI that occurred on Sept. 9, 2011.

It involved a private vehicle, not a fire truck, Meager said. Myer denied using the drug during work hours.

For the DUI, Judge Richard Brosey sentenced Myer to the maximum of 364 days in jail with all but one of the days suspended for two years.

Brosey imposed almost $2,000 in fines and noted Myer’s driver’s license would be suspended for 90 days.

Myer has said he never knowingly purchased anything illegal. Outside the courtroom, he said it was a fair outcome, with the change in his offense from a felony to a misdemeanor.

“They adjudicated it properly,” he said.

He was ordered to report to jail on Feb. 19.

•••

For background, read: “Synthetic marijuana found at Chehalis fire station building” from Friday October 26, 2012, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A plea deal has been offered for the Centralia woman charged with a stabbing outside a Chehalis bar, but her lawyer said he hasn’t yet had time to present it to her.

Lena A. Castillo, 24, remains in the Lewis County Jail since a fight last month outside Garbe’s Bar and Grill on Northwest Chehalis Avenue.

Lena A. Castillo

Castillo is charged with first-degree assault.

Prosecutors allege the victim started the physical altercation but that Castillo continued attacking 22-year-old Ashley Stewart with small knife after Stewart stopped fighting and was on the ground.

Both females are from Centralia.

Castillo was in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon where defense attorney Mike Underwood said he wanted to push her trial date out farther into the future.

Underwood told the judge he needs to get an investigator to see if there were other witnesses, he needs time to sit down and go over all the materials and he hasn’t yet spoken with his client about the plea deal extended by prosecutors.

Judge James Lawler suggested instead the parties return to court next Thursday.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead declined outside the courtroom to say what the deal was.

Stewart was treated for four stab wounds to her stomach and one to each leg and was expected to make a full recovery. Castillo told police the Jan. 12 dispute was about her ex-boyfriend.

Chehalis police called the fight mutual combat and said after the arrest they couldn’t prove who owned the pair of brass knuckles that turned up in the restroom where the stabbing victim was tended to by friends.

Castillo has pleaded not guilty.
•••

For background, read:

• “Police: “Mutual combat” between two women in Saturday assault outside bar” from Monday January 14, 2013 at 12:19 p.m., here

Crews prepare to help salvage belongings after a fire damaged the front portion of a Centralia house, to the right of the fire trucks, this afternoon.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – A malfunctioning space heater ignited a house fire in north Centralia today that claimed the lives of three cats and will temporarily displace the couple who live there.

Firefighters called just after 3 p.m. to Windsor Avenue just south of Fulton Street were told of reports of explosions and two people inside the single-story home, and then told it was only one person.

“When we got here, he was outside, thank goodness,”  Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Mike Kytta said.

Crews then proceeded to attack the fire, he said.

The man who lives there had been starting up a propane heater when it emitted flames, according to Kytta said. He threw it out onto the porch, Kytta said.

He was uninjured, but treated by medics for minor smoke inhalation.

The couple had four cats, three of which did not survive, according to the fire department. One of them was administered aid and oxygen. A local veterinarian took the cat and other animals to board them. The Red Cross was summoned to assist the couple.

Crews were still on the scene after 5 p.m. preparing to check again for smoldering and help retrieve some belongings that weren’t ruined.

Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal Rick Mack said the bulk of the fire damage is in the front room, just inside the front door. He estimated the loss to the home and contents at $74,000.

Mack said the propane heater developed a failure in its supply line. It was hooked up to a 20-gallon cylinder of fuel, he said.

The heater wasn’t the kind he sees often, but similar to a type one might use to heat a garage or shop, he said.

Weston G. Miller mostly just listens as attorneys and the judge discuss his upcoming murder trial in Lewis County Superior Court.

Updated at 5:56 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – With just a week before his trial is set to begin, the former welder who fatally shot a houseguest inside his Centralia home has decided not to attempt to get an acquittal based on insanity, but on straight self defense.

Weston G. Miller, 30, and his lawyer went before a Lewis County Superior Court judge this morning to discuss how the change meant they need to postpone his trial.

“I hope the court would realize, it’s like starting over, basically from scratch,” Centralia attorney J.P. Enbody told the judge.

Enbody said it meant dealing with different experts, different criteria and different facts.

Judge Richard Brosey granted the delay but wasn’t happy.

Miller is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 43-year-old David Wayne Carson.

Police called the afternoon of March 13 to Miller’s house on B Street found Carson dead with two bullet wounds in his chest and chased down Miller who had left in a pickup truck. Officers were told Carson and his girlfriend Sara Delsavo had been arguing and Miller told them to stop it.

Miller has claimed self defense from the beginning.

He said Carson came at him with a knife in his hand, but Delsavo said her boyfriend was unarmed, according to charging documents.

Among the further work to be done mentioned this morning was the defense getting an expert to review the autopsy findings regarding gun powder residue and the proximity of the two men to each other.

The trial has been repeatedly pushed into the future as attorneys have dealt with examinations by doctors about Miller’s competence to stand trial and his mental state at the time of the shooting.

Last month the court was informed he wanted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity and a hearing was planned so a judge could hear from experts on both sides. It’s cancelled.

Miller is also charged with several counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm as detectives say when they searched his home, they found a a MAC-10 semi-automatic and four other guns.

Miller’s previous domestic violence assault means he’s prohibited from possessing firearms.

Centralia police also allegedly discovered a silencer and a bullet-proof vest in the house.

The trial, which is expected to last five days or less, is now scheduled for the week on April 15.
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For background, read “B Street homicide: Defendant says self defense” from Wednesday March 14, 2012, here