Ocean Shores 911 caller discharges pistol while confronting prowlers

Male suspect at large, female detained and released

By Thorin Sprandel

Grays Harbor News Group

A 911 caller in Ocean Shores reported seeing a prowler in his yard at 5:09 a.m. Monday and officers were dispatched to the 600 block of Duck Lake Drive SE. After the prowler got into a vehicle and drove off, the caller, a 69-year-old Ocean Shores resident, armed himself with a pistol and got into his vehicle to search for the suspect.

After finding the vehicle at Chinook Park, he confronted two suspects with his pistol in his hand. A male suspect ran off into the park and has not been located.

As the caller approached the vehicle, he slipped in the ditch and accidentally discharged his pistol, hitting nothing and no one. The caller then struggled with a female suspect and detained her until officers arrived.

The female suspect, a 27-year-old from Shelton, gave a voluntary statement about the incident and was released pending further investigation.

The vehicle the suspects were in was seized pending a search warrant as items were seen through the windows that may have been stolen in other recent crimes in the area.