Lewis County Sirens.com

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