Lewis County Sirens.com

Officers collect evidence from outside a home on Southwest William Avenue.

Updated at 5:22 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Police have recovered the handgun they believe was used in this morning’s shooting incident and arrested two people for “aiding and abetting” but are still trying to track down their suspect.

Officers responded to the 600 block of Southwest William Avenue after receiving multiple calls just before 3 a.m. from people hearing four or five gunshots following an argument outside a small house.

Nobody was struck and nobody was hurt but one bullet lodged in the railing along the front porch, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

Department spokesperson Linda Bailey said the individual with the gun was outside when the shots were fired.

Several people reside there, but Bailey said she doesn’t know how many of them were home at the time. The suspect and victim or victims were acquaintances, she said.

Bailey said she doesn’t have information this afternoon about a motive.

Next door neighbor Sharon Edwards said she didn’t know what was going on, but stayed put after hearing gunfire.

“I didn’t get up, I was frozen on the couch,” Edwards said.

When daylight came, she saw detectives outside, placing as many as 10 yellow markers, she said.

Officers recovered only the one round, according to Bailey.

The suspect police are looking for is 36-year-old Andrew C. Skyberg, his whereabouts are unknown, according to the police department.

Bailey said she didn’t know where the .380 handgun was found, but it had recently been stolen in a vehicle prowl.

Arrested today for aiding and abetting and booked into the Lewis County Jail are Bryan K. Butts, 32, from Cinebar and Felicia D. Lane, 28, of Chehalis, according to the police department. Bailey had no specific details about whatever help they are alleged to have provided.

Skyberg is described as a white male with very short hair, 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighing 175 pounds. He has tattoos on both arms.

Anyone with information about Skyberg’s location or information about this incident is asked to call 911 or, to remain anonymous, call the Thurston County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
•••

For background, read “Argument leads to multiple gunshots in south Chehalis” from Friday October 7, 2016 at 7:26 a.m., here

•

Chehalis police prepare to leave the crimes scene on William Avenue this morning.

Hillary Harader, far left, faces Judge Nelson Hunt while her husband, in red, speaks with his attorney.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – With almost two dozen family members, friends, co-workers and even their pastor and employer occupying the row of benches behind them, a Centralia couple pleaded guilty to their roles in an incident which included a bullet ending up lodged in the side of the Dairy Bar on Chehalis’s Main Street.

Both entered into plea deals with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

Matthew W. Harader, 27, admitted he fired a shot toward an occupied pickup truck.

Hillary M. Harader, 23, admitted she subsequently took the gun from her husband and helped destroy it.

The couple went before a judge yesterday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in connection with the events that occurred around 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 28.

Chehalis police responded to the area of the gas station at the 600 block of Main Street, to a report of a shooting. The clerk said two men and a woman had been inside the store there, although they arrived in separate vehicles, according to court documents. She then saw what looked like one male outside who appeared to fire toward a pickup truck heading westbound, court documents related.

When police spoke to the two men from the truck, they indicated they’d left the store and one of two men there began to yell and chase them, before firing a weapon.

Nobody was injured. Police recovered two .45 caliber casings at the scene.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the judge his office has not heard back from the victims. He revealed there actually were four people inside the truck.

He said he watched the surveillance video from the Jackpot the following day, and saw of them inside the store, but didn’t see any contact between them.

“Something happened outside,” Halstead said. “We believe words were spoken from the victim towards a female.”

He said obviously it was a spur of the moment crime that occurred, that Matthew Harader was probably high on meth.

Matthew Harader pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault.

The standard sentencing range for his offenses is between 111 months and 147 months, and Halstead asked for 147.

His lawyer Katherine Gulmert said her client is extremely remorseful

Judge Nelson Hunt agreed to the prison term of twelve years and three months. He said the three years of community custody following release should include a drug treatment program.

When it came time for Hillary Harader to plead guilty to second-degree rendering criminal assistance and tampering with evidence, the judge volunteered he knew her well.

“I’ve known her since she was a child, she was a good friend of my daughter’s,” Hunt said, adding she was also involved in recovery court.

He asked Halstead and her lawyer if either objected to him presiding. They didn’t.

Halstead said when the vehicles left the gas station, Matthew Harader got out of the vehicle he was in and ran back to the car his wife was in, giving her a handgun to dispose of.

Her attorney Robert Brungardt told the judge that his client authorized him to approach prosecutors the very day of her arraignment.

“She knew she had a duty to acknowledge and accept the consequences,” he said.

The two sides recommended to the judge that Hillary Harader serve 60 days, with the option of doing it on electronic home monitoring. And also that $6,000 worth of fines be suspended provided she has no law violations.

Judge Hunt agreed.

He ordered her to report to the Lewis County Jail by Oct. 25, or show evidence she’s on the home monitoring by then.
•••

For background read “Chehalis shooting: Firearm still missing, one round recovered from Dairy Bar” from Friday September 2, 2016, here

Dashaud D. Cummings, right, and his lawyer face a judge this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The teenager who stole a police chief’s car, knocking down a trooper as he drove away and was finally caught in the woods off Interstate 5 was given a 29-month sentence today.

Dashaud D. Cummings, 17, was charged in adult court for the events of Aug. 10 that began with a pursuit down Interstate 5 that reached speeds of 100 mph, reached a golf course in Chehalis where he climbed into the Chehalis chief’s car while law enforcement officers looked for him, according to prosecutors. After striking the trooper as he backed up, Cummings drove north on Interstate 5, hitting two cars along the way and finally ditching the unmarked patrol car on the side of the roadway.

His passenger told police he didn’t have a license; he told police he was running because he didn’t want to get arrested for a warrant, according to charging documents.

“There was no reason for it,” Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the judge today.

Now Cummings has four felonies, he said.

The Lacey resident pleaded guilty this morning as charged, to second-degree assault, attempting to elude and theft of a motor vehicle as well as hit and run.

The trooper was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, having been hit with the side of the car because its wheels were turned and landing on his hands and knee, according to authorities.

A plea deal was struck in which both sides would recommend Cummings get the top of the standard sentencing range and pay restitution for all the damage he caused, whether or not it was charged, according to Halstead.

Defense attorney David Brown noted to the judge his client has been respectful and wants to make some changes.

Judge James Lawler agreed with the 29 months.

Cummings’ family members sat behind him in the courtroom in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.

“I would encourage you when you get out to do things differently,” Lawler said. “You’ve got people here supporting you, but that’s not going to go on forever.”

He alluded to some defendants who eventually end up in criminal court alone.

“Family can only take so much,” he said.
•••

For background, read “Lacey teen gets adult court in theft of police chief’s car case” from Wednesday August 31, 2016, here