Thurston County sheriff’s deputies arrested a 36-year-old man at a home on Koeppen Road after he called 911 early Sunday morning and reported that “five people are dead in my front yard because they were trespassing and I shot them,” court papers state. The report was untrue, according to court papers.
Also according to court papers:
The 36-year-old man was “very intoxicated,” and had just been involved in a physical fight with his girlfriend during his military retirement party. He told sheriff’s deputies he falsely reported the incident “because he wanted law enforcement to get there quicker.”
He was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault, domestic violence – for allegedly choking his girlfriend – and on suspicion of false reporting, a gross misdemeanor. He was being held Monday at the Thurston County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
A dispatcher at Thurston County’s emergency dispatch center said Monday that the man’s false 911 call was “treated as a high priority suspicious circumstance, adding that “a handful of deputies” rushed to the scene after the 1 a.m. call.
The man’s girlfriend said that during the retirement party, he got into an argument with her in the kitchen about a phone. During the verbal dispute, he “threw a cake across the room,” and “flipped out,” she said.
Partygoers who were outside enjoying a bonfire were attracted to the kitchen by the ruckus. “Everyone at the party quickly became aware something was going on and came in to see what was happening.” She said that after her boyfriend tackled and tried to strangle her, partygoers pulled her boyfriend off her.
The deputy observed red marks on the woman’s neck that were consistent with the described assault.
The suspect had a hard time maintaining his balance when being interviewed by the deputy. “(I)t is what it is,” he said at one point during the interview.
jpawloski@theolympian.com360-754-5445
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