Bail $1 million for suspect in shooting of police sergeant

A Portland man made his first Clark County court appearance Wednesday in the shooting of a Vancouver police sergeant.

Daylan E. Berg, 22, will remain in the Clark County Jail on $1 million bail pending trial on attempted murder, among other felony charges.

Arraignment was set for July 8.

The evening of April 15, Sgt. Jay Alie of the Vancouver Police Department was shot in the chest as he approached a car that had been reported in a McLoughlin Heights burglary. The bullet lodged in Alie's ballistic vest and he was not injured.

Berg and fellow suspect Jeffrey S. Reed were arrested in Portland.
A Clark County court date has not been set for Reed, 26, who is fighting extradition.

When Berg was arrested, he had outstanding Multnomah County warrants for a 2007 evading police case and a 2008 domestic violence case. Since then, he had been in the Multnomah County Jail.

On Wednesday, Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Michael Vaughn said Berg had been planning to flee to New Mexico when he was arrested by a U.S. marshal after the Alie shooting.

"He presents the highest level of risk to the community," Vaughn told Superior Court Judge John Wulle, in explaining the request for $1 million bail.

According to court documents, Berg had been living with friends in Portland the past year; previously he'd lived with his girlfriend's family in Vancouver.

During a routine interview when he was booked into the Clark County Jail on Tuesday, Berg said he has bipolar disorder, according to court documents.
On April 15, Berg and Reed allegedly kicked in the door of a home on Delaware Lane and ordered a resident at gunpoint to get on the floor.

A neighbor called 911 and reported strangers carrying items out of the house and loading them into a Kia Spectra.

Alie responded to the call and stopped the Spectra.

Vaughn said when Berg was arrested he was carrying the gun used to shoot Alie.

In addition to attempted murder, Berg faces charges of assault, burglary, robbery, kidnapping and intimidating a witness. The last two charges are for allegedly holding the resident at gunpoint and threatening to kill him if he called 911.

The 45-year-old resident wrote in a victim's statement filed with the court that he no longer feels safe.

"I do not know these young men so I wonder who sent them to my house if indeed someone did send them, or are there that many people out there that are willing to kick a door in and hold a stranger down on the ground with a loaded gun. I feel now that I will have to look over my shoulder the rest of my life," he wrote.

According to an affidavit, Reed and Berg stole a television, computer, wallet and $500 in cash from the victim.

The Oregonian has reported that court documents filed in Portland mention medicinal marijuana plants among the stolen items, but the plants have not been mentioned in documents filed in the Clark County case.

Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4549 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.