Maple Falls man pleads not guilty in Peaceful Valley shooting that injured Whatcom deputies
Additional charges have been filed against the Maple Falls man accused of shooting and injuring two Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies last week.
Joel Berck Young, 60, pleaded not guilty Friday, Feb. 18, to two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault while armed with a firearm, one count of second-degree assault while armed with a firearm, one count of felony harassment, and six counts of reckless endangerment in Whatcom County Superior Court.
Young’s charges include aggravating factors for allegedly trying to kill a law enforcement officer and using a firearm in the commission of a crime, which allows a court to sentence him to life in prison.
Young’s jury trial is tentatively scheduled for April. He is currently incarcerated in the Skagit County Community Justice Center in lieu of $5 million bail.
During his arraignment Friday in court, Young’s public defender, Kurt Parrish, said they were opposing a pre-trial order to surrender and prohibit any weapons. Parrish said the order violates Young’s 5th and 14th amendment rights.
Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Richey said Friday he would be seeking a special hearing to argue the matter.
Deputies Jason Thompson and Ryan Rathbun both suffered facial wounds from a 12-gauge shotgun after they responded to a neighbor dispute in Peaceful Valley on Feb 10.
Thompson, who has been with the sheriff’s office for 13 years, was released from St. Joseph’s hospital in Bellingham Feb. 11 after a night of observation, according to previous reporting in The Bellingham Herald.
Rathbun, who has been with the sheriff’s office for nearly 16 years, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after the shooting, where he was under the care of a specialist. As of Feb. 14, Rathbun had been released from the hospital, The Herald previously reported.
Thompson has been serving as the South Lake Whatcom neighborhood deputy and is a member of the sheriff’s office’s crisis negotiations team. He was previously a member of the criminal interdiction team, according to the sheriff’s office.
Rathbun has been a field training officer, foothills neighborhood deputy and a first aid/CPR instructor, as well as a member of the criminal interdiction and SWAT teams.
A pair of online fundraisers, which have collectively raised more than $31,000 as of Friday, have been organized to help with the deputies’ medical expenses.
Both Rathbun and Thompson appeared in person in court for Young’s arraignment Friday. Rathbun had visible scratches on his face, and Thompson was wearing an eye patch over one of his eyes. Numerous law enforcement officers also appeared in court as a show of support.
“The sheriff’s office is like a family, and they all naturally had a very high level of concern when someone is seriously injured. When a call like that comes in and you hear over the radio that we have deputies shot, the tone of the voice on the radio kind of raises the level even a bit higher,” Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said in an interview Friday with The Herald. “Everybody’s been dealing with it the best they can.”
The shooting
Sheriff’s deputies were sent at 4:17 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, to the 3000 block of Green Valley Drive in Peaceful Valley for a report of shots fired, after a caller told 911 that a neighbor was outside shooting his 12-gauge shotgun in the air, according to a news release from Bellingham police at the time. Additional callers said two people were shooting at each other from two houses.
Deputies arrived around 4:40 p.m. Thursday, and said that a man, later identified as Young, was yelling at them and waving a shotgun around, according to court records. Deputies established probable cause to arrest Young for felony harassment, and noted that Young appeared intoxicated due to his speech and physical actions, the court records state.
Within the next five minutes, both deputies had been shot in the head with birdshot, according to court records.
Young surrendered shortly after 6 p.m. and was taken into custody.
Updated court documents state Young’s next-door neighbor was burning a bonfire in his backyard, which created smoke that caught Young’s attention. Young came out of his house intoxicated and started yelling at his neighbor. Young then allegedly went back into his house, grabbed a shotgun, came back outside and fired two rounds — one in the direction of Colfax Court and another in his neighbor’s direction, according to court records.
Young’s neighbor who lives two doors down was also in her backyard at the time with her children and pets, who were playing. The woman’s husband, Cody Deeter, and his friend, Jesse Marshall, were also in the backyard cutting wood to make a bench. The Deeters told law enforcement they saw a spent shotgun wad land in their yard, the court records state.
When Young fired the shotgun, the woman told her children to go inside and yelled at Young “I’ve got kids out here ... knock it off!,” the records state. Young then allegedly pointed the shotgun at the woman, and Deeter told her to call the police, to which Young responded “Call the cops and I’ll f---ing kill you,” the court records show.
Sheriff’s deputies Rathbun and Thompson arrived and met with Young’s next-door neighbor. While Rathbun was speaking with the neighbor, Young allegedly shot Thompson in the head, records state. Rathbun went to check on Thompson and provide cover, and then Young allegedly shot Rathbun in the head, court records show. Young’s neighbor, who had taken cover from the gunfire in his garage, told law enforcement he was hit in the face with gravel or partial birdshot that ricocheted off the ground or nearby structure.
Marshall, who was in the Deeter’s backyard when the initial gunfire started, then returned fire in Young’s direction, the court records state.
“Joel Young, who was heavily intoxicated, decided to arm himself with a loaded shotgun, step outside in his residential neighborhood and indiscriminately fire a round next door toward a family who was outside in their yard, minding their own business. His actions, as detailed above, created the substantial risk of death or serious physical injury,” according to the records.
Gunfire exchanged
During an interview with police, Young said he began drinking vodka, coffee and cocoa around 3 p.m. that day, while his adult son who he lives with left the house to run errands. Young said his next-door neighbor began burning a garbage pile and the smoke filled Young’s house, the court records state.
Young “became enraged and went outside to yell at the neighbor to put the fire out,” the records state. The neighbor allegedly replied with an expletive and Young went back inside his house, grabbed a shotgun with birdshot and fired a round in the air towards the neighbor. He then went back inside and drank a beer, according to court records.
Shortly after, Young told police he heard someone say “sheriff” and said when he looked outside, he saw a person crouched at his neighbor’s garage. Young told police he then fired in the direction of the garage, the records show.
Body-worn camera footage from the incident shows one deputy kneeling outside the neighbor’s house, according to court records. Young came outside and asked “What do you want to know,” to which the deputy responded “Sheriff’s office, drop the gun,” the records state.
Young then yelled and allegedly shot the first deputy, which dropped the deputy to the ground, according to court records. The second deputy exchanged gunfire with Young and then retreated after also being shot, the records show.
Marshall stepped forward and fired multiple shots from a handgun at Young to protect the deputies, who were then pulled into the neighbor’s garage where first aid was administered while they waited for additional law enforcement to arrive, the records state.
Young told police he went back inside his house when “all hell broke loose,” and that he was on his floor “as bullets were flying through his house,” the records state. Young’s son called him and told him to come out of the house. Young complied and was taken into custody.
The investigation of the incident is being handled by members of the Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Response Team in coordination with the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office, according to a previous Bellingham police news release. The team is a multi-jurisdictional investigation team that investigates officer-involved shootings and other complicated investigations in Whatcom County.
As of Friday morning, there were no updates on the team’s investigation and police had not yet determined how many shots had been fired in total during the incident.
Elfo said Friday it was a good sign when he saw the deputies conscious and alert when they came into the emergency room after the shooting. He said he’s “incredibly proud” of how Thompson and Rathbun acted.
“Despite being shot, they put themselves in very grave danger to take care of each other and even though they were seriously injured and could have self-evacuated, they didn’t leave until they were replaced. They wanted to protect the community that was at risk,” Elfo said.
There has been at least one prior shooting where a sheriff’s deputy was injured by a piece of shrapnel, but the deputy didn’t require hospitalization, Elfo said. Prior to being elected sheriff in 2003, Elfo said while working with a different department earlier in his career he worked with an officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty.
“It was a very traumatic event. Not only when it happens to our own agency, anywhere it happens in the state of Washington or around the country, we feel it,” he said.
The Peaceful Valley incident has reinforced the type of training the sheriff’s office does, especially with the changing laws regarding law enforcement, Elfo said. The deputies are committed to doing the best they can with the means and equipment they have, he said.
The priority is to make sure Thompson and Rathbun are taken care of and that they get the necessary treatments and evaluations before returning to duty, Elfo said. While he’s not sure if either will return to work, he said he hopes they do.
“It amplifies the difficult and dangerous job deputies have,” Elfo said of the shooting. “Everybody’s hanging in there. Everybody’s extremely concerned, but they’re committed to doing the job that we always do.”
Court records show a domestic violence protection order was filed against Young in late January 1999. The protection order was denied in early February because Young’s visitation rights were suspended, the records show.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 10:25 AM.
