LONGVIEW — A Battle Ground man pleaded guilty to a first-degree assault charge after he attempted to kill his estranged father at his Longview apartment in November.
Zachary Allen Ekstrom, 23, who initially faced first-degree attempted murder, was sentenced to 15 years in a prison and three years of community custody for shooting Casey Allen Jasper, 43, of Longview. Ekstrom is prohibited from owning a firearm and must turn over any guns he owns to law enforcement.
“Did you shoot Mr. Jasper?” Cowlitz County Judge Thad Scudder asked during the April 9 hearing.
“Yes,” Ekstrom said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”
He wiped tears from his eyes as his father, who he shot multiple times in November, shuffled into the Cowlitz County Superior Court Jail courtroom, now wearing braces and shaking.
“I don’t think he was in his right mind,” Jasper told Scudder.
Jasper declined to comment to The Daily News as he exited the courtroom.
According to Longview police, officers responded to to an apartment building in the 1600 block of 11th Avenue on Nov. 3 for a report of a shooting in progress.
Jasper told a 911 dispatcher, “I’ve been shot.”
A witness identified Ekstrom as the shooter, according to Longview police. Ekstrom fled the scene before police arrived.
A joke apparently triggered the shooting. Ekstrom — high on cocaine, meth and other substances — stood up, pointed a loaded gun at his father and fired multiple shots, according to the report.
Jasper was shot six to seven times, causing wounds to his elbow, hands, one leg, both arms and his torso.
Ekstrom was arrested in Woodland and told authorities that tension had been building between him and his dad before the first shots rang out.
