SEKIU — A Silverdale man who allegedly exchanged gunfire with a Clallam County sheriff’s deputy Monday went into surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle Wednesday and remained in serious condition.
Scott Lincoln Davis, 59, was shot in his right hip and left arm by Deputy Bill Cortani, who fired in defense, said State Patrol Sgt. Kristene O’Shannon on Wednesday.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said Davis shot Cortani with a 9mm handgun in the hip and the left shoulder when the deputy attempted to arrest him for trespassing in a beachfront cabin in Sekiu.
The State Patrol is in charge of the investigation rather than the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department because a deputy was involved in the shooting.
Retired Army major
Davis is a retired Army major with the Bronze Star, according to his online resume, which says he also has worked as a recreation park manager for Camp Mckean on Kitsap Lake near Bremerton from 2005 to 2007 and as an network engineer for the Central Kitsap School District in Silverdale from 1992 to 2005.
The park manager at Camp Mckean was surprised by the news but declined to comment.
Cortani, 41, was released from Harborview on Tuesday and is back home in Forks.
“He’s just as feisty as ever,” Benedict said.
He said it will likely take two weeks before the Sheriff’s Department can determine when Cortani can return to work.
“He will probably be home for a while,” Benedict said. “They are wounds that have to heal from the inside out.”
O’Shannon said the State Patrol will interview Cortani today.
She said that state troopers are on guard at the hospital and Davis remains in custody.
Davis will be formally arrested when he is conscious and can understand his rights, she said.
O’Shannon said she didn’t have information on what charges the State Patrol will arrest him on and recommend to the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
No criminal record
She said that Davis does not have a criminal record.
Benedict said charges likely would include first-degree burglary and first-degree assault and likely attempted murder.
The State Patrol’s investigation is ongoing, though investigators were no longer at the scene of the incident as of Tuesday evening.
Cortani was dispatched to the cabin after its owners, Dave and Sue Sperline of Redmond, were notified by an employee of the neighboring Ray’s Grocery, 7621 Highway 112, that a man had been in the store saying that he was going to stay in the cabin.
The couple alerted law enforcement and jumped into their car.
After being shot, Cortani took cover behind a beach log outside the cabin.
Davis, who had emptied his handgun, grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun from his car.
As he approached Cortani, the deputy shot him twice.
Contrary to early reports, Davis did not fire his shotgun, Benedict said.
The Sheriff’s Department based that previous statement on spent shotgun shells on the beach, he said, but those were determined to have not been fired at the time of the incident.
After he was shot, Davis surrendered to Cortani, who held him at that location until backup arrived 20 to 30 minutes later.
Benedict said that most recent reports indicate that Davis had a transient status, though he had previously been listed at a home in Silverdale.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
