SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
King County Sheriff: Too many people jumping to conclusions in Olympia shooting
May 28, 2015, 2:11 PM | Updated: May 29, 2015, 10:01 am
Matteo Johnston, 13, left, holds a sign that reads "Don't steal beer! We support the police," as he stands with his father Steve Johnston, center, and his uncle Kevin Johnston, right, after the three showed up to show their support for police near the Lacey, Wash. home of an Olympia Police officer who shot two men suspected of trying to steal beer from a grocery store Thursday in Olympia. A protest targeting the officer's home was promoted with fliers during the day Friday, but did not materialize Friday evening. Both of the men who were shot are expected to survive their injuries. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
It’s not just the media and protesters who may be falsely portraying what happened when two step-brothers were shot in Olympia.
A Superior Court judge characterized what happened in Olympia on May 21 by saying “two kids were shot while skateboarding,” King County Sheriff John Urquhart told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. The judge said that during a 7:30 a.m. meeting on Thursday.
The step-brothers aren’t kids and they weren’t skateboarding. They attempted to steal a box of beer and assaulted a store clerk with the beer, Urquhart said. That’s all the public knows right now.
“And, of course, those are not reasons to get shot, either,” Urquhart said.
Andre Thompson, 24, and Bryson Chaplin, 21 of Olympia were shot by officer Ryan Donald. Donald was assaulted with a skateboard, he told a dispatcher.
The shooting was not racially motivated, Chief Ronnie Roberts told reporters.
Gov. Jay Inslee vowed to get to the bottom of the police shooting.
When Urquhart first heard of the Olympia shooting he thought “oh God, not another one,” he told Dori. The distrust [that] a shooting of this nature breeds is not good, he said.
But how an incident, such as the Olympia shooting, is covered can be damaging as well. For example, saying the two men were unarmed is a stretch, because skateboards have been proven they can be used as weapons, Urquhart said.
“A skateboard and almost anything else can be a weapon,” he said.
If it were up to Urquhart, all officers in King County would wear body-cams. Just like in the Olympia shooting, cameras would answer a bunch of questions, he said. But the officer involved in the Olympia shooting wasn’t wearing a camera, so now the public has to wait for the results of the investigation.
“Let none of us jump to any conclusions,” Urquhart said.
