She fatally shot a man at a homeless camp. Now she’s been sentenced
“His name is Zachariah Nicholas Janusiewicz, and he deserved to live,” Alisha Ruiz told a crowded Whatcom County courtroom Wednesday prior to the sentencing of her fiance’s killer.
Janusiewicz, 30, was fatally shot by Coleen Leigh Clark, 36, on April 15, 2024 at a homeless camp near Walmart. Clark was arrested two and a half weeks later and charged with six felonies and a gross misdemeanor, including first- and second-degree murder.
Clark pleaded guilty to the amended charges of second-degree manslaughter, unlawful imprisonment and second-degree assault in Whatcom County Superior Court as part of a plea deal. She was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison followed by 18 months in community custody.
Gale Raynard Jefferson, 34, was also arrested in connection to Janusiewicz’s death. He has not pleaded guilty to any charges, and his trial is scheduled for July 14.
What happened?
On the morning of the shooting, Clark and Jefferson were going from tent to tent at the homeless encampment accusing people of stealing their money, according to court records. At one point they tied a man up with a zip tie and used the opioid overdose-reversing drug Narcan on him, in an attempt to force him to go through withdrawal.
One of the people that Clark and Jefferson accused of stealing from them was Janusiewicz, who was in possession of fentanyl and money at the time.
Janusiewicz’s family said he had purchased the drugs in Seattle for friends who were going through withdrawal. Some of the fentanyl was sold to Jefferson before the shooting, according to court documents.
Janusiewicz tried to run from the encampment, and Clark chased after him with a gun. Clark tripped at one point and fired one round, hitting Janusiewicz in the torso. Clark began kicking Janusiewicz before realizing he’d been shot. She helped put him in a cart to wheel him out of the camp in search of medical assistance, according to court documents.
Janusiewicz was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Who was Zachariah Janusiewicz?
Janusiewicz grew up in Ketchikan, Alaska. He was the youngest of five children, and loved to play all types of sports: hockey, baseball, wrestling and especially football. But when Janusiewicz was 15, he was involved in a motorcycle accident, ending his athletic career. He was prescribed opioids following the surgeries he underwent, and eventually became addicted to them.
His mother, Kathleen Kloep, did her best to support him as he went through treatment and even jail time. Addiction “does not make you a bad person,” she told the courtroom, and has likely touched everyone’s lives in some way. She said Janusiewicz used his faith to lift up others also dealing with substance use disorder.
Kloep recalled how Janusiewicz started a hip hop band with his friend after high school. He saved up all his money from a summer job when he was 17 to help build a recording studio and show his friend his belief in him.
Janusiewicz and his friend moved to Bellingham soon after to continue to pursue their musical career. He’d get on stage and try to be cool, Kloep said, but he didn’t have the same rhythm that his friend did.
He performed under the name “Zachy Moon,” and Kloep said she now thinks of him whenever she sees a full moon.
Kloep always keeps an eye out for signs of Janusiewicz. She said she sees him in double rainbows and white feathers and repeating numbers, as well as in Janusiewicz’s son. He called the 8-year-old his “mini me,” and Ruiz said Janusiewicz’s love for his son “was always there.”
Janusiewicz would take his son out for donuts after school and build Legos with him. Ruiz met Janusiewicz when she was 17, and he was her best friend.
“We planned on a beautiful life together, and we had a beautiful life,” she told The Bellingham Herald.
Clark’s sentencing
Janusiewicz’s friends and family — both in person in the courtroom and in letters submitted to the judge — shared their outrage over the plea deal. Janusiewicz’s father said not going to trial was “like a slap in the face,” and that the amended charges didn’t reflect the severity of the crime or Clark’s criminal history.
Prosecutor Caleb Nagel said the state was worried about the potential outcome of a trial. He said there was “very little physical evidence,” and the only witness had a criminal history. He also worried that a trial could lead to the pinning of Janusiewicz’s death on Jefferson rather than Clark.
Clark’s public defender, Shoshanah Epstein, pointed out that no one else has taken responsibility, and that the agreed-upon sentence — which is years longer than the standard range for Clark’s charges — was still lengthy and significant.
Epstein said Clark did what she could to help Janusiewicz when she realized he’d been shot, and that she harbored no ill will toward him.
“I did everything I could do instantly to right that accidental wrong,” Clark said. “I’m so sorry it wasn’t enough.”
She apologized to Janusiewicz’s family and cried as she listened to their victim-impact statements.
“This loss of life matters to me,” Clark said. “My life, my heart, my spirit are forever impacted and forever changed.”
Clark, like Janusiewicz, struggled with addiction. Two of her teenage children spoke about the toll that their mother’s substance use disorder has taken on their family at her sentencing.
“At least two families have been immensely altered, broken, changed (by addiction),” Epstein said. “They’re both lifelong members of our community. One is not better than the other.”
Olson, who oversees Whatcom County Recovery Court, agreed that substance use disorder touches everyone. He also said that based on Clark’s sentence is “more than earned.”
“There are seldom monstrous people,” Olson said. “There are, however, monstrous acts.”
He emphasized that Clark cannot possess a firearm and that, had she followed her previous banning from doing so, this crime would not have taken place. He encouraged Janusiewicz’s family to keep looking for signs of him and, when they see them, to think about what he would want them to do.
“It seems to me that Zach was a forgiving person,” Olson said.
Ruiz said she will continue to honor Janusiewicz and raise his son “like Zach would want (her) to.”
“He loved me,” Ruiz said. “He loved his son. He loved his family. He deserved to live.”