Bodycam: Wash. Deputy Ends Clash with Gunman Violating No-Contact Order

By Becca Robbins

Source The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Law enforcement officers responding Nov. 13 to a house in Camas, where a Clark County deputy later shot a man, were notified of a safety bulletin that the man had previously threatened to die by police, according to a video summary released Wednesday by the sheriff's office.

Deputy Forrest Gonzalez, who fired his weapon, can be heard on body camera footage saying, "I'm going to take a shot on this guy if he's pointing (a gun) at us." He can then be heard announcing "shot away," before firing three shots at 41-year-old Patrick Wetzel, who was seated in his SUV in the driveway.

The video begins with a timeline that starts about 10 p.m. when callers reported to 911 hearing gunshots in the neighborhood near the 2300 block of Everett Street.

About a half-hour later, responding officers saw Wetzel in the driveway and learned he was prohibited by a domestic violence no-contact order from being at the house. Law enforcement also learned Wetzel may be armed with a revolver, the video states.

Shortly after 11 p.m. an armored sheriff's office vehicle pulled into the driveway, and deputies and Vancouver police exited the vehicle and took cover behind it. Officers can be heard over the radio saying Wetzel has a gun, and he was pointing it at the armored vehicle. Wetzel, inside his car in the driveway, can also be heard repeatedly yelling for police to get off his property, according to the video summary.

Footage from Gonzalez's body camera captured him leaning out from behind the armored vehicle, before he tells the other officers he's going to fire.

The video summary also shows a split-screen of Gonzalez's body camera and a dash camera on the armored vehicle. Wetzel can be seen on the dash camera moving around inside his SUV while officers say he has a gun. But a water droplet on the armored vehicle's windshield conceals the view of Wetzel when Gonzalez fires.

The video also shows several officers, including Gonzalez, providing Wetzel medical aid for a gunshot wound where his shoulder meets his neck. Officers can be heard saying that Wetzel's gun was on the floorboard of his car.

Wetzel was treated at a local hospital before he was booked into the Clark County Jail, investigators said.

He was arraigned Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, protection order violation, third-degree malicious mischief, aiming/discharging a firearm and resisting arrest. His trial is scheduled for April 21, court records show. He remains out of custody after posting his bond.

The video states four deputies were placed on leave after the shooting, per standard protocol, but three of them have returned to patrol. Gonzalez remained on leave as of Wednesday.

The Washington State Patrol is investigating the shooting as a part of the Southwest Washington Independent Investigation Team. The Camas Police Department is investigating the allegations against Wetzel.

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