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Men Say Police Ignoring Attack By Armed Thugs

DrewGunner

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MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. -- Two men said they were attacked by a group of armed men in Ravensdale and then ignored by the King County Sheriff's Office when they reported the assault, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

The assault happened on public land known as the Ravensdale Flats, near Maple Valley about a week ago.

Phillip Kennedy said he and three friends were just leaving the area in their vehicles after target shooting, when a group of men approached them, using flashlights to blind them and get them to stop.

Kennedy said at first he thought the men were police officers.

Kennedy and Rodney O’Hair said about a dozen men, some with shotguns, surrounded them and complained about people shooting in the flats.

“They came up over the hill and one man told me to lay faced down on the ground and I said, ‘Look, man, no one's laying on the ground, we didn't do anything wrong.’ And then I got a shotgun handle to the head and I’m bleeding all over the place,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy said he and O’Hair were keenly aware that they were in a remote area.

“I thought they were going to shoot us,” said O’Hair.

VIDEO: Men Attacked By Group Of Armed Assailants

“Then he stepped on my back and dragged my friend over, hit him in the back of the head twice and then shot off a round in the dirt right next to our heads,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy said the group ordered them off the property and shot at them as they drove off.

Kennedy later had 10 stitches in his head.

The men said they reported the attack to the sheriff’s office but haven’t heard anything. Officers have not yet taken a statement from O’Hair.

“When you’re an innocent bystander and you’re not doing anything wrong, and someone just comes up and assaults you with firearms, holds you at gunpoint and tells you to lay faced down on the ground, you expect police officers are going to do something to catch the people,” said Kennedy.


The detective on the case told KIRO he hasn’t done any follow-up on the incident because he’s been working on a murder that occurred the next day and the department is very short-staffed.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/15448604/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news&gg=true
 

Doug Huffman

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There have been a number of mentions of the movie Deliverance recently. You might review it/see it and decide on whose side you would be.

I live in a remote area and get plenty of - and plenty fed up with - city folk, Chicago-ites and Milwaukeegers. Were I to catch one 'enjoying' my land I'd prolly screw with his head too, 'specially if he 'answered back' like so many here OCDO do.

I'll bet that the dis-information lies in the "public land" because if it ain't Hillary Clinton Memorial City/County/State/National/World Heritage 'Park' then a person owns it and was merely ejecting unruly trespassers.
 

jaredbelch

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DrewGunner wrote:
The detective on the case told KIRO he hasn’t done any follow-up on the incident because he’s been working on a murder that occurred the next day and the department is very short-staffed.
Hmmm - Crazy group of people threatening and beating people up for doing lawful things...discharging shotguns in the ground next to their heads...Maybe, just maybe the two incidents are related... :banghead: At least take the statement from both of the people involved!
 

DrewGunner

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Doug Huffman wrote:
There have been a number of mentions of the movie Deliverance recently. You might review it/see it and decide on whose side you would be.

I live in a remote area and get plenty of - and plenty fed up with - city folk, Chicago-ites and Milwaukeegers. Were I to catch one 'enjoying' my land I'd prolly screw with his head too, 'specially if he 'answered back' like so many here OCDO do.

I'll bet that the dis-information lies in the "public land" because if it ain't Hillary Clinton Memorial City/County/State/National/World Heritage 'Park' then a person owns it and was merely ejecting unruly trespassers.
"...complained about people shooting in the flats."

Thats what I was thinking too. Fed up landowners/neighbors... I've been on both sides of that before. Cops don't seem to do much.
 

Dave The Welder

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DrewGunner wrote:

Kennedy and Rodney O’Hair said about a dozen men, some with shotguns, surrounded them and complained about people shooting in the flats.

“They came up over the hill and one man told me to lay faced down on the ground and I said, ‘Look, man, no one's laying on the ground, we didn't do anything wrong.’ And then I got a shotgun handle to the head and I’m bleeding all over the place,” said Kennedy.

Walking up and wanting to talk to me as I'm driving off is completely fine with me, but if you surround my vehicle in a romote area, level guns on my vehicle, and order me out of my vehicle, that's not okay. They'd have had a fire fight on their hands if that had been me and they tried to pull me from my vehicle.

You don't ever level a gun on somebody unless they've done/are doing/are about to do something that threatens a life and when you level that gun, it's with the understanding that you've just put the other person a situation where they're either going to completely give up or fight you to the death.
 

surfj9009

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Dave The Welder wrote:


Walking up and wanting to talk to me as I'm driving off is completely fine with me, but if you surround my vehicle in a romote area, level guns on my vehicle, and order me out of my vehicle, that's not okay. They'd have had a fire fight on their hands if that had been me and they tried to pull me from my vehicle.

You don't ever level a gun on somebody unless they've done/are doing/are about to do something that threatens a life and when you level that gun, it's with the understanding that you've just put the other person a situation where they're either going to completely give up or fight you to the death.

+1
 

Mainsail

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It’s hard to believe that when you’re shooting at an outdoor range you are vulnerable to being robbed, but it happens. I’ve always kept my primary carry gun loaded and holstered even when I’m downrange setting targets.
 

Misguided Child

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Doug Huffman wrote:
There have been a number of mentions of the movie Deliverance recently. You might review it/see it and decide on whose side you would be.

I live in a remote area and get plenty of - and plenty fed up with - city folk, Chicago-ites and Milwaukeegers. Were I to catch one 'enjoying' my land I'd prolly screw with his head too, 'specially if he 'answered back' like so many here OCDO do.

I'll bet that the dis-information lies in the "public land" because if it ain't Hillary Clinton Memorial City/County/State/National/World Heritage 'Park' then a person owns it and was merely ejecting unruly trespassers.

Remarkably ignorant comment Huffman, I will forward that to your state police offices. There are some illiterate hillbillies down by my brothers place too, they figure it's OK to slash tires and scare game off if someone comes down to scout out "their" mountain because they've been living in an 8' trailer on 9 acres for their entire lives harvesting trees from the state forest for their drug and booze money.

The flats are unincorporated land and one of the few places that locals can go to 4-wheel and shoot and you're saying it's ok for the local trash to use deadly force to keep other people from enjoying public land while you sit and fantasize about making some city boy squeal like a pig.
 

Dave The Welder

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Mainsail wrote:
I’ve always kept my primary carry gun loaded and holstered even when I’m downrange setting targets.
That's what I do. If I'm shooting my pistol, there's always one fully loaded magazine with Federal HSTs on my belt, just in case. Also, if I go downrange where I'm going to be 50+ yards aways from my truck, I carry a loaded rifle with me. I've never really had any trouble but you can't be too safe when you're in the middle of nowhere and nobody expects you home for hours.
 

irfner

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Idon't know for sure because it hasn't happened to me. But I think I might have a hard time reaching for my pistol if I were surrounded by a bunch of guys pointing shotguns at me. I am not really into suicide by mob.
 

Ravenhawk

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Maybe the victim should've added that the suspects were "open carrying" he might've gotten a faster & more investigative reponce from Police.
 

Trigger Dr

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Ravenhawk wrote:
Maybe the victim should've added that the suspects were "open carrying" he might've gotten a faster & more investigative reponce from Police.

Only if he had reported it in Olympia.
 

sv_libertarian

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Trigger Dr wrote:
Ravenhawk wrote:
Maybe the victim should've added that the suspects were "open carrying" he might've gotten a faster & more investigative reponce from Police.

Only if he had reported it in Olympia.
LOL
I don't think what happened was proper and it should have been investigated by the cops, but I don't think we are getting the whole story either....
 

Dave The Welder

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sv_libertarian wrote:
I don't think what happened was proper and it should have been investigated by the cops, but I don't think we are getting the whole story either....
Steelcoreap and myself were talking about this story on our way to Spokane today and we both agree with you that something just doesn't feel right about the version that we got
 

Dave_pro2a

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Dave The Welder wrote:
sv_libertarian wrote:
I don't think what happened was proper and it should have been investigated by the cops, but I don't think we are getting the whole story either....
Steelcoreap and myself were talking about this story on our way to Spokane today and we both agree with you that something just doesn't feel right about the version that we got

If I recall correctly, there have been incidents up in the Sultan basin where legal recreational target shooters were assaulted (shot at) by assailants.

So, until more evidence comes to light I'll take the story pretty much at face value with only the normal grain of salt.
 

Johnny Law

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Dave_pro2a wrote:
Dave The Welder wrote:
sv_libertarian wrote:
I don't think what happened was proper and it should have been investigated by the cops, but I don't think we are getting the whole story either....
Steelcoreap and myself were talking about this story on our way to Spokane today and we both agree with you that something just doesn't feel right about the version that we got

If I recall correctly, there have been incidents up in the Sultan basin where legal recreational target shooters were assaulted (shot at) by assailants.

So, until more evidence comes to light I'll take the story pretty much at face value with only the normal grain of salt.
I have to agree with all these comments. I can tell you that when an agency says that they don't have the manpower to investigate an incident immeadiately, they're not just blowing it off. There is only a limited # of detectives, and one must remember thateach onealready has a large caseload, and more come in each day.

They are telling the truth when they said that cases are prioritized by severity, and obviously a homocide is priority over an assault. When the investigators are buried in several other higher priority cases, they cannot just drop them and jump on a lower priority case. This is frustrating to victims, but unfortunately the budgets and manpower simply isn't there. People then interpret this as "the Police don't care", when this is not the reality of the situation.
 

911Boss

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I just happen to work for KCSO and after reading about this, I did a little checking. First of all, I am not sure of the definition of "Public lands", but the area this happened in is VERY rural. I am not aware of any large tracts of unowned property in that area. Just because there is no development, fences or posting, doesn't make it "public". "Unincorporated" means it is not within city limits, that doesn't make it "Public". Most of it is privately owned, and if it is the area I believe it to be (south side of Kent Kangley Rd.) it is, in fact, a "No-shoot" area by county ordinance.

Of course, none of this makes what happened "OK", but the story on the news doesn't quite match the story in the police report.

Yep we didn't do "Anything" except:
-Have two cops there within 10 minutes, with a total of three responding.
-Offer aid (which was declined) for the injuries.
-Go back to the location where it occured, in the dark, possibly to confront this armed band of people to look for anything of evidenciary value (none found).
-Take the report, and forward it to major crimes. Just because it hasn't been given attention yet, doesn't mean it won't be.

I would never accuse the "news" people of sensationalizing anything, but there are some interesting points of conflict between the news report and the police report, such as:

News report: "...a dozen men, some armed with shotguns".....Police report: "...5-6 men, one with a shotgun"
News report: "...shotgun handle to the face".....Police report: "...he kicked the car door causing it to strike him in the face"
News report:: "...Officers have not yet taken a statement from O'Hair".....Police report: "...Their two friends left and would not be able to return to give statements"

The descriptions given are :

White male 30 year old wearing a flannel shirt.
White male 40 year old wearing a flannel shirt.
White male
White male
White male

Not a lot to go on with those descriptions. As far as being "short staffed", yup- it is a perpetual issue. Whether there are vacancies or not, there is always more work than there are detectives to handle. Everything gets prioritized, and yes, the guy found shot dead in a vacant house is going to be the priority over this.

I am sorry this happened, as others have mentioned it may be country, but that doesn't make it safe. Yes, meth labs are popular in such areas, so are squatters and others who want to be left alone. There is a joke about "How to get to Ravensdale?...Head south on Maple Valley highway, turn left at the banjo music."

Just one more illustration of how people are first and foremost responsible for themselves. We will certainly send the calvary AFTER the fact, but there is no guarentee you will not be injured, or the bad guy will be caught. This is real life, not "CSI" or "Law and Order" where the bad guys are identified, caught, charged, tried, and convicted in 60 mins with commercials. Look at the stats nationwide about stranger on stranger assault and you will find dismally low clearance rates on such cases.

As I said, none of what these folks did, made them deserve what happened. I am not blaming the victims, but there would be far fewer victims if people didn't put themselves in positions that increased their chances of victimization.


I do still go up into the woods to shoot. I try to do it during the middle of the week, and will go somewhere else if I come across others. I ALWAYS have a sidearm ready for defense, and a loaded shotty close as well.
 

sv_libertarian

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Interesting 911boss, very interesting. Thanks for the info... It has been my experience and observation that cops tend to come out of the woodwork for calls involving guns, that is why I was suspicious of the whole story...
 
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