Orting’s ‘Compton’s Crew’ trying to clean up crime after friend’s death

Orting is a place where you’re either born and raised – and stay – or you move there to raise your kids. By all accounts, the town of 7,000 has enjoyed 125 years as a peaceful community. That was until this past February, when the murder of one of their own stripped the town of its blissful innocence.

On February 19, Nickie Compton found her husband dying of a gunshot wound on their front porch. She doesn’t like to talk about it.

“Being in the house and walking out the door is you know that’s a reminder anyway,” Nickie said.

Police think Mike Compton interrupted a gas theft in his garage and the burglars turned his own shotgun against the 53-year-old.

After 30 years of marriage, Nickie had to bury her husband, who was also her childhood friend.

“Growing up together and my family and his family were so close, my brothers were like his brothers, and so I think about him all the time,” Nickie said. “Anything we did, we did it together. We worked on our house together. If we shot a deer and elk, we cut it up together.”

As a born-and-raised Orting man, Mike had a lot of friends and Chris Hopfauf was one of his best.

“We talked about [dying] a lot of times, that if we went down how we’d want to go, how we’d want to buried or whatever and we said ‘don’t be wearing no suit and tie to my funeral, better be wearing camouflage’,” Chris said.

Both Chris and Nickie are wearing camouflage on this day, which is their homage to Mike. His murder shattered Nickie’s life, it shook Chris’ hometown pride and rattled the community because they no longer felt safe.

Mike’s murder was only the second in 15 years and all he was trying to do was protect his property. Another cause for concern is the town’s drug problem, most point to meth, and heroin isn’t just a whispered rumor anymore.

It was small-town Orting no more, but Chris wasn’t going to sit there and take it.

“I just keep thinking about Mike, and Nickie laying there in bed alone and reaching over and Mike’s not there. She’s going to deal with that for the rest of her life and I think, what is a few hours of my time compared to that?” Chris said.

A few hours turned into days, then weeks and now months of his time. Chris went all in, starting a citizen’s patrol group called “Compton’s Crew.”

He is motivated by his need to find Mike’s killer, his desire to return Orting to the peaceful town he remembers and also to protect his own family.

“My child, I’ve got a 6-year-old, when he hits the streets as a teenager, hopefully what we’re doing now will have made enough of a difference to where it’s a safer place to be for everybody,” Chris said.

Orting’s police department has only nine officers. The city council recently approved adding one more officer, but they still have to figure out how to fund it. Outside agencies, like Bonny Lake, handle major investigations. All agencies are tight-lipped about Mike’s murder.

Until the gavel drops, Chris says, Compton’s Crew will be watching.

“I just tell them that I’m fighting the good fight and I’ll fight it until I can fight no more because Mike, he was a good guy, and he hated crime, and he hated heroin. He hated meth. He hated all those drugs. I know he’s sitting up there smiling,” Chris said.

At first, the community was rallying behind Compton’s Crew. But since his patrols started four months ago, there’s mounting criticism against Chris and his group. He’s been accused by community members of doing more harm than good, including profiling and false reporting.

Wednesday on Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross, Colleen O’Brien goes on patrol with Chris Hopfauf.

Read Part II: Compton’s Crew feels the backlash while patrolling Orting’s streets for criminals

Read Part III: Orting becomes a town divided but the leader of Compton’s Crew won’t back down