Graphic video released by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies shoot a man in Brush Prairie last month. The man died.
The incident began just after midnight on February 20 when a woman called 911 to say she was worried for her mother’s safety, according to the sheriff’s department. The caller said her mother’s “behavior was strange and she was making statements that ‘didn’t sound like herself.’”
Based on the call, deputies believed the woman’s mother was being held against her will by a male relative.
Five deputies arrived at the 12500 block of Northeast 152nd Avenue and talked to both the alleged victim, whose name hasn’t been released, and the suspect, 53-year-old Jonathan Gale. According to the body-cam video, one officer, after talking to the woman, tells another officer: “She’s acting really weird and she says he has a gun on him.”
A deputy then asks the woman if a crime has occurred and she says yes, that she’s been sexually assaulted.
The deputies decide to detain Gale, and the video shows Gale appear to grab a gun in his belt, causing three deputies to shoot him.
The officers who were on the scene are Deputy Forrest Gonzalez, Sgt. Tom Yoder, Deputy Holly DeZubiria, Sgt. Jeff Ruppel and Deputy Isaac Henrikson, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
None of the deputies was injured.
All five deputies were wearing body cameras. The released video has been edited to provide what the sheriff’s office calls “visual context.” The shooting is shown in slow-motion at one point and from different angles.
The shooting remains under investigation by the Southwest Washington Independent Investigative Response Team, which is led by the Vancouver Police Department.
— Tom Hallman Jr
503-221-8224; thallman@oregonian.com; @thallmanjr
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