The Clark County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that the investigation into the fatal Vancouver police shooting of Andrew A. Williams has been sent to the county’s prosecutor for review.
The announcement indicates that the Southwest Washington Regional Independent Investigative Team has finished looking into the Oct. 4 shooting in Vancouver’s Rose Village neighborhood.
Officers were dispatched at 11:15 p.m. to the 2600 block of T Street for a report of an assault with a weapon. Williams, a Portland resident, forced his way into an apartment and stabbed his girlfriend, according to the Vancouver Police Department. Several people inside the apartment were able to get him back outside, where he confronted officers, the police department said.
Williams reportedly refused police commands to drop his weapon. Two Vancouver police officers — later identified as Rotha Yong and Brandon Riedel — fired their weapons, striking him.
Williams died the next day at a hospital. The sheriff’s office said at that time the “victims of the initial domestic violence assault were treated for injuries sustained during the original assault and released the following day from the hospital.”
It’s unclear if the investigation included any involvement by community representatives, required by the Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act, formerly known as I-940. The sheriff’s office did not respond to questions about non-law enforcement members on the investigation team.
Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik previously told The Columbian he plans to send all reviews of police shootings here to prosecutors’ offices outside of the county. Golik could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Williams’ death was the first of two police shootings in Clark County last month. Members of the Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team are taking the lead for an investigation into the fatal shooting of Kevin E. Peterson Jr. by Clark County sheriff’s deputies on Oct. 29.
