A suspected vehicle thief was killed Wednesday morning in the Orchards area after the suspect rammed a Clark County sheriff’s vehicle, and the deputy fired their weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies were dispatched about 4:40 a.m. to the 10900 block of Northeast 72nd Street for a report of a stolen car.
They located the vehicle near Northeast 109th Avenue and 71st Street “occupied by the suspect,” the sheriff’s office said. “The suspect rammed the deputy, and an officer-involved shooting ensued.”
“The suspect in the stolen vehicle was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the sheriff’s office said later Wednesday morning.
The deputy inside the patrol vehicle suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from the hospital.
The sheriff’s office has not released the identity of the deputy involved or person killed. The deputy was placed on critical incident leave, which is standard practice for officer-involved shootings.
The Clark County Regional Crimes Unit is investigating the incident.
Several hours after the shooting, about a dozen sheriff’s office vehicles were parked along 109th Avenue. Yellow crime scene tape cordoned off a section of the road.
A Chevrolet SUV was parked on the lawn of a residence on the corner of 109th Avenue and 71st Street. A sheriff’s office truck was parked beside the SUV, and a handful of law enforcement officials conferred between the vehicles.
Residents walked their children to the bus stop while others watched the activity just outside the taped-off area.
A man who said he was awakened by the sound of gunfire declined an interview.
Another woman said stolen and suspicious vehicles occasionally drive through the neighborhood, but several people who answered their doors said that wasn’t the case.
This is at least the fourth officer-involved shooting in Clark County this year.
A Vancouver police officer shot and wounded a man Nov. 22 during a traffic stop near the East Fourth Plain Boulevard ramp on southbound Interstate 5. The man, 31-year-old Demarcus D. Roundtree, was not seriously injured. Roundtree is being held on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, criminal impersonation and driving with a suspended license.
In June, James M. Kelly allegedly fought a Clark County sheriff’s deputy in the driveway of a Brush Prairie home. The deputy was responding to a report of a disturbance when Kelly allegedly lunged at him; he fired his weapon following a short scuffle. Kelly is facing two counts of second-degree assault.
And in April, two Vancouver police officers fired at Brad Lee Reeves during a manhunt in the Rose Village neighborhood.
