A man who helped lead police to a gunman’s vehicle ended up being shot himself in what Vancouver police are describing as a case of mistaken identity. Police released details Tuesday about the officer-involved shooting but did not identify the man.
On Halloween morning, police were canvassing the county for 59-year-old John Kendall, who was wanted in connection with the shooting of his neighbor and was armed with a rifle.
A man called 911 at 9:35 a.m. to report seeing Kendall’s car parked on the edge of a wooded area next to a gravel turnout off Northeast Blandford Drive, according to Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp. Police traced Kendall to the same area using a cellphone ping. The information was broadcast to law enforcement, including the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT Team.
Unbeknownst to law enforcement, the man who had called 911 parked his own vehicle next to Kendall’s and remained on the scene after hanging up. The wooded, rocky terrain obscured Kendall, who already may have been dead, and his vehicle from view when police arrived.
Police saw from a distance that a white man in his 50s was parked in the area, Kapp said. They watched as the man got out of his vehicle and walked toward the back of it.
Believing the man to be Kendall and armed, police fired multiple shots at him to stop the perceived threat, Kapp said. One round hit the man in the leg. After being shot, the man took cover behind a gravel pile and fired a single shot from a firearm.
Detectives aren’t sure which way the bullet went, but it didn’t hit anyone. The man then called 911 to report that he had been shot. A responding officer talked to him and confirmed that he was not Kendall, Kapp said.
Officers on scene aided him, and he was taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening. He was discharged from the hospital within a day.
Police eventually found Kendall nearby, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The investigation into the original incident, in which he shot his neighbor Abigail Mounce, is ongoing.
The man shot by police asked that his name not be released. So far, detectives don’t believe he had any connection to Kendall other than being on the scene that day.
The names of three officers involved in the shooting are Vancouver police Cpl. Chris LeBlanc, 47; Vancouver police Officer Brian Frances, 38; and Clark County sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Spainhower, 39, all members of the SWAT team. They are on paid administrative leave until the investigation is completed, which is standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting. The investigation is being done by the Camas Police Department, whose officers were not involved in the shooting.
