EVERETT — The Snohomish County Prosecutors’ Office has officially filed charges against a man accused of fatally shooting Everett police Officer Dan Rocha last month.
Richard Rotter, 50, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver, The Daily Herald reported. His arraignment hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
In the two vehicles Rotter used that day, police said, they found a rifle, two kinds of ammunition and 1,950 pills “consistent with fentanyl,” along with what appeared to be heroin and methamphetamine.
Around 2 p.m. March 25, Rocha was working his patrol shift when he went into a Starbucks, according to the charging documents signed by deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson. While waiting for his coffee, Rocha noticed Rotter moving guns and other items from a Mini Cooper into a Ford Fusion, documents said.
Rocha, 41, turned on his body-worn camera, telling dispatch he was checking on “suspicious” circumstances. He asked for a backup officer, and a police sergeant said he’d be there shortly. In the meantime, Rocha approached Rotter and asked about the guns. The interaction was caught on camera, Matheson wrote.
Rotter claimed he had just bought the Ford Fusion.
Rotter gave Rocha his ID, and a dispatcher told Rocha there was a domestic violence assault warrant for Rotter’s arrest and that he had a previous felony conviction, the charges say.
Rocha reportedly told Rotter that he was not free to leave because he was now under investigation for suspicion of unlawfully having a firearm. Rotter then became agitated, Matheson wrote.
Rotter reportedly moved toward the Ford. The officer told him to put his hands behind his back and tried to put him in handcuffs, but the two wrestled and fell to the pavement, according to the charges.
“Five distinct ‘pops’ can be heard until officer Rocha’s body camera ends up facing upwards, motionless,” Matheson wrote.
