Aberdeen man beaten in home by suspect fleeing police

Aberdeen

A 30-year-old King County resident is in custody at the Grays Harbor County Jail this morning after a dangerous crime spree in the West end of Aberdeen yesterday. Around 7:23 AM, Aberdeen Officers were dispatched to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the

A King County man was arrested Thursday morning after he entered a home on Martin Street and beat the homeowner. Police had chased him to the home after he had fled from them in a stolen car. When they arrested the 30-year-old man at the Martin Street home they found a loaded handgun he had apparently thrown from an upstairs window of the home as police closed in on him.

The chain of events started just before 7:30 in the west end of Aberdeen Thursday morning when police were called to the 2700 block of Simpson Avenue regarding a suspicious vehicle. It was missing a license plate and the occupant was reportedly acting suspicious.

Aberdeen officers arrived minutes later but the suspect was gone. They determined the car was registered to someone in Renton who had reported it stolen. The owner asked that it be left there instead of being impounded. Aberdeen Officers contacted neighboring businesses looking for surveillance footage of the vehicle. Around 11 a.m., numerous callers reported a male suspect had returned to the car. Aberdeen officers were on the way there when a nearby business owner tried to stop the suspect from taking the vehicle. In the process of fleeing with the stolen car again, he struck the business owner and left the scene. The business owner only sustained minor injuries.

Law enforcement from Aberdeen, the State Patrol, Hoquiam and the county Sheriff’s Office responded. Calls to dispatchers helped officers track the vehicle and it was located unoccupied as citizens saw the suspect running eastbound several blocks away. The suspect ran up to 5th Street and entered the woods east of Conger and started to run up the steep hill. A county tracking dog named Tango tracked the man to Martin Street and officers contained the area.

Aberdeen officers heard sounds of a struggle inside a home where the track ended and entered the residence to find an Aberdeen resident bleeding from the head. The victim stated the suspect hit him in the head repeatedly and ran upstairs. Aberdeen officers and the tracking dog went to the second floor and found an open window to the second floor roof as containment officers watched the suspect throw a black handgun onto a deck of the neighbors.

Officers surrounded the home and the Aberdeen Fire Department came with a ladder truck to help the suspect off the roof. He was arrested once on the ground and it was determined the handgun was loaded and the suspect was a convicted felon. The victim was taken to Grays Harbor Community Hospital for treatment.

The suspect was booked into the County Jail on charges of burglary, possession of a stolen car, vehicular assault and unlawful possession of a gun.