The second suspect in an interrupted burglary in Amboy that turned into a shootout on Christmas Eve made his first court appearance Monday morning.
Brandon William March, a 32-year-old transient who also goes by the name “Peanut,” is accused of breaking into an Amboy home and then firing a gun at the homeowner.
March faces charges of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and first-degree attempted theft. March appeared in Clark County Superior Court in front of Judge David Gregerson in a suicide smock. His bail was set at $500,000, and he was assigned attorney Sean Downs to represent him.
Brian J. Slay, 32, of Woodland faces charges for his role as an accomplice in the crimes.
The incident occurred on Dec. 24, when Thomas Schenk arrived at his Amboy home in the 37000 block of Northeast 216th Avenue at about 1:45 p.m. and found his garage unlocked and the inside of his house ransacked.
Drawing his concealed handgun, Schenk walked through his house and found a man, later identified as March, loading a bag with Schenk’s belongings, according to court documents.
“Schenk confronted the subject, who responded by raising his hands and saying ‘don’t shoot’ multiple times,” according to a probable cause affidavit by Clark County sheriff’s Detective Scott Gilberti. The suspect sprinted to the back bedroom and then reappeared from behind a bookcase holding a handgun, Gilberti wrote. He commanded Schenk to drop his weapon, but Schenk refused to do so. The two men each fired at each other twice, according to Gilberti.
Nobody was injured.
Schenk, who told detectives that he worried for his life, backed out of his house and took cover behind a woodpile to call 911, according to the document.
When deputies responded, they searched the area and used a police dog to track the suspect, but didn’t locate anyone.
Investigators did, however, find a knife and a Ford F-150 pickup truck that had Slay’s identification inside, according to the document. One set of neighbors said they saw two men in the area, and another witness saw a man running from the residence about 15 minutes before the K-9 was deployed.
Separate warrants were filed in the case. March was arrested Sunday. Slay was arrested on Dec. 28 on suspicion of being an accomplice to first-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and first-degree attempted theft.
Slay and March are scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 9.
Rachelle Ward, Slay’s girlfriend, also was arrested for allegedly concealing the identity of the second suspect in the burglary from investigators. She was arrested on Dec. 28 on suspicion of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. She is scheduled to be arraigned on the charge Jan. 9.
The investigation into the case is ongoing.
