Bellingham man allegedly pulled gun at a party and had a role in Lynden park shooting
A Bellingham man police suspect pointed a gun at a victim’s head during a York neighborhood party early Saturday also is suspected of being involved in a shooting that occurred at Lynden City Park last week.
Bellingham police booked Landon Marshall Gudde, 19, into Whatcom County Jail on Sunday, Feb. 9, on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm, first-degree assault and felony harassment.
Gudde also was booked on charges including criminal conspiracy to commit robbery. Jail records show he is being held in lieu of $80,000 bail.
“Landon was a person of interest in our shooting from Wednesday night,” Lynden Chief Steve Taylor told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “Once arrested on the unrelated Bellingham charges, detectives were able to speak with Landon, and developed information sufficient to charge him with the charges you see below on the jail log.”
Taylor added that the investigation is continuing and further arrests are expected.
Bellingham party
At approximately 12:50 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, Bellingham police responded to a brandishing call in the 1200 block of Ellis Street, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Herald in an email. They arrived to find a house party with many people in attendance.
Witnesses told officers that a group of men, including Gudde, showed up and were asked to leave because the party seemed to be getting out of hand.
The victim told police that the group of men called him a racial slur, and when the victim asked them not to use that word, Gudde held a gun to the victim’s head by his right eye. Gudde challenged the victim while others in Gudde’s group encouraged him to “blast him,” Murphy reported.
Another witness also reported seeing Gudde point the gun at the victim’s head, Murphy wrote, and Gudde was picked out from a lineup.
Lynden shooting
Lynden police believe three individuals from Skagit County, including a 31-year-old man who was shot, drove to Lynden City Park at around 10:30 p.m. Feb. 5 to meet a Bellingham man who had agreed to purchase narcotics from them, Taylor reported.
During the transaction, two other men who accompanied the man from Bellingham, robbed the group from Skagit County, and the man was shot during the incident, Taylor wrote.
As previously reported by The Herald, police spoke to two individuals, who reported that they were waiting to meet another man in the park, when two masked men showed up and began stealing items from their car. They told police that they ran from the scene, and it was then that the third man was shot, and they got him help at the Lynden Fire Department.
Investigators also spoke to the shooting victim over the weekend as he recovers from a gunshot to the right bicep area at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Taylor reported.
Gudde arrested
On Sunday, Feb. 9, Bellingham police stopped a car in the 800 block of Lakeway Drive near Fred Meyer, and due to the probable cause out of Lynden and Gudde’s criminal history involving firearms, a high-risk stop was conducted, Murphy reported.
Gudde stepped out of the car as officers ordered, but then stopped obeying commands and began arguing, Murphy wrote, and he even reached back into the car.
Officers fired a non-lethal bean bag round in an effort to deescalate, Murphy reported, and Gudde then complied with police commands.
Whatcom County Superior Court records show Gudde has previous juvenile convictions for theft and unlawful firearm possession from 2018.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 11:48 AM.
