Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office seeking man suspected of attempted murder in shooting
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office is seeking a man suspected of shooting another man in the chest last month east of Ferndale.
In a Facebook post Wednesday evening, July 6, the sheriff’s office said Lane Scott Phipps is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder in Whatcom County. Additionally, the post said Phipps was wanted for suspected first-degree assault and felony harassment in Snohomish County and on suspicion of escape from community custody from the Department of Corrections.
According to a story by the Everett Herald Thursday, Lynnwood police identified Phipps as the man who was shot at by police during a pursuit on Tuesday, July 5.
Whatcom County Superior Court documents show Phipps was charged with attempted second-degree attempted murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest on June 30.
The order for a warrant described Phipps as 26 years old, 5-foot-11, 185 pounds with blue eyes and black hair.
According to court documents in that case, deputies responded at 6:17 p.m. June 14 to the 6000 block of Aldrich Road for the report that a man had been shot.
Deputies found the victim that had suffered a gunshot wound through his chest, causing several injuries, including a punctured lung, documents state. The victim was taken to St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham for treatment of the injuries.
Witnesses at the scene told deputies that a black passenger car had pulled into the driveway and drove approximately 150 feet back to a cabin on the property, documents stated. Deputies reportedly learned that Phipps had “a beef” with the victim and went to the Aldrich Road property looking for the victim, according to documents.
Witnesses told deputies there was a 15-minute argument between the victim and Phipps, who had been in the black car, documents state.
Surveillance video showed the black vehicle started pulling out of the driveway toward Aldrich Road, and the victim walked toward the car as it was leaving, according to documents.
The car, which was then out of camera view, stopped and an occupant of the car shot the victim in the chest, documents state, and the car then left the scene.
Deputies located a .45 caliber shell casing at the scene near where the car had been stopped and where witnesses reported hearing the gunshot come from, according to documents.
Several witnesses identified Phipps as the person who shot the victim, documents state, and deputies were able to find that Phipps was the owner of the black 2011 Jaguar believed to have been associated with the incident.
Suspected crimes in Lynnwood
In a post that was shared by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, the Lynnwood Police Department said that Phipps is believed to be armed with a black semi-automatic handgun and driving the 2011 Jaguar XF with a temporary license number of A5378260.
Phipps is wanted in Lynnwood for first-degree assault, felony harassment and other crimes associated with an incident that occurred July 5 at the Lynnwood Pick-N-Pull, according to the Lynnwood post.
The Lynnwood post, which also was made Wednesday, shared photos of Phipps and the Jaguar and asked anyone seeing Phipps or knowing where he might be to call Detective Sgt. Brian Jorgensen at 425-670-5632 or 911.
Nobody was injured in Tuesday’s shooting incident, which occurred at approximately noon after several officers located the suspect, now identified as Phipps, inside the Pick-N-Pull wrecking yard, according to a Lynnwood Police Department news release on Tuesday.
When officers attempted to arrest the suspect, now identified as Phipps, on the attempted murder warrant out of Whatcom County, he pulled a handgun and put it to the head of a woman he arrived with, according to the release. Officers attempted to negotiate with him, but he instead ran to his car. One witness reported the suspect fired at least one shot, according to the release, and a police sergeant returned fire.
The suspect, now identified as Phipps, got to his car and sped away, the release states, and police attempted to pursue but lost sight of the car, according to the release.
Whatcom County court records show Phipps was already awaiting a trial scheduled to begin Sept. 12 on charges of two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm from an incident that occurred April 1.
Court records also show Phipps has previous convictions for assault, possession of a controlled substance by a prisoner, residential burglary, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of stolen property and possession of a stolen vehicle in Whatcom County and unlawful possession of a firearm in Skagit County.
This story was originally published July 7, 2022 at 7:51 AM.
