Fun in the snow on WCC campus turns scary when two guns pulled during confrontation
Some fun in the snow Wednesday evening on the Whatcom Community College campus turned scary during a confrontation between two groups, when one of the groups reportedly pulled two handguns. A Bellingham police officer also suffered a broken arm while attempting to detain a juvenile suspect in the incident.
A 17-year-old male, whose name was not released, was booked into the Whatcom County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of two counts each of third- and fourth-degree assault and one count each of obstructing law enforcement officers, resisting arrest and second-degree malicious mischief.
Officers were called at 9:09 p.m. Jan. 15 to the 200 block of West Kellogg Road for the report of an assault with a weapon, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald.
Officers spoke to two victims, who said they had been building a snowboarding ramp and hanging out with friends near WCC’s Pavilion Hall when the suspect approached and began harassing and eventually fighting one of the victims, Murphy said. The second victim stepped in and was reportedly hit by the suspect.
The suspect was with a group of six friends, and during the fight two of them pulled out handguns and pointed them at the two victims, Murphy said.
The two victims and their friends backed away and called 911, Murphy said, and the suspect’s group of friends ran away.
K-9 Rudy was brought in and tracked the juvenile suspect’s group to a nearby apartment complex, where a group, matching the description of the group from on campus, was in the parking lot, Murphy said.
The suspect was among that group and was contacted by two officers and began posturing and acting aggressively, stepping toward the officers while yelling, Murphy said.
The officers attempted to detain the suspect in handcuffs, and he immediately began to fight back, punching one of the officers, Murphy said.
As he was being taken to the patrol vehicle, the suspect twice kicked the vehicle and continued to resist, kneeing an officer in the groin and kicking the other, Murphy said.
The injured officer was taken to the hospital for treatment for a broken arm, Murphy said, and the victim’s identified the suspect as the person who started the altercation.
Murphy said no handguns were recovered and that she doesn’t anticipate more arrests.
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 8:21 AM.
