imported post
I thought of you when I saw this article on the front page of the Columbian a week later. The picture was huge, about 1/4 of the page.
Friday, January 04, 2008
BY JOHN BRANTON, Columbian staff writer
Police feared the worst Thursday after 911 dispatchers said a man with several handguns had been seen inside the WinCo supermarket along Northeast Highway 99 in Hazel Dell.
About 4:25 p.m., a customer told dispatchers she'd just seen a man drop a gun on the floor of the produce section, said Sgt. Tim Bieber with the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
"He went to pick it up and she saw three other guns around his waist," Bieber said.
Sheriff's deputies and officers with the Vancouver Police Department rushed to the scene.
The man with the gun was described as 6 feet tall, in his 60s and balding. He reportedly wore a burgundy shirt and striped pants that looked like those of a sheriff's deputy.
Two officers in plainclothes went inside to find the man.
Meanwhile, other officers watched from outside and told newly arriving customers to return to their cars.
As five uniformed deputies entered the store, officials spoke with the caller out front.
"She certainly seemed credible," Bieber said.
In the end, however, no man with guns was found, either in the store or outside.
It is not against Washington law to carry a concealed weapon if you have a permit, but law enforcement officers routinely respond to reports of armed subjects.
At first, store employees who viewed the security video system said it contained no suspicious images.
After searching the building, including back rooms, deputies left about 5:20 p.m.
Later, an employee told deputies there might be an image of someone dropping something in the store.
Today, Bieber said, a deputy will watch the video to see if the dropped object was a gun, and if the man can be identified.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911.
Less than a half-hour before the WinCo call, about 4 p.m. Thursday, officers hurried to the 5300 block of Northeast 72nd Avenue, near Andresen Road, after a caller said gunshots had been fired.
The first arriving deputies reported hearing more shots, Bieber said.
Sheriff's deputies took positions around a small house, then asked dispatchers to call inside and tell two men to come out unarmed.
Once the men were detained, officers learned that another man had been at a home across the street, doing an assessment as part of a repossession of the house.
A man from the first home had walked across the street and confronted the man doing the assessment, Bieber said.
The men argued and may have exchanged threats, Bieber said.
When the neighbor returned to the first home, someone thought he heard gunshots and notified police.
Deputies think the "shots" may have been noises from a compressed-air nail gun that was being used nearby.
"Nobody saw a gun being shot," Bieber said. "They just heard what they thought were shots."
Since there was no evidence of any crime being committed, the two detained men were released, Bieber said.