Forks native wanted in gun store burglary arrested in Bremerton

Patrick Weldon Nelson

Patrick Weldon Nelson

BREMERTON — A Forks native and his girlfriend suspected in an April 9 Bremerton-area gun store burglary were arrested in Bremerton after U.S. marshals fired on their car, according to the Kitspap County Sheriff’s Office.

Patrick Weldon Nelson Jr., 40, and Colette Rapp, 38, were in the Kitsap County jail Tuesday afternoon.

Rapp allegedly drove into two marshals’ cars trying to escape arrest from a Bremerton city park Monday night.

Law enforcement accounts

Marshals fired shots at the vehicle, according to Bremerton police and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office accounts, and the two were arrested at about 5 p.m.

They were taken to jail with the help of deputies and police, said Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

No one was hit by gunfire, according to law enforcement accounts.

Nelson and a marshal were treated and discharged from Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton for injuries suffered when Rapp rammed the car she was driving into the marshals’ vehicles at Bremerton’s Forest Ridge Park, Wilson said.

Nelson, a Forks native whose last known address was Seattle, was booked into jail for investigation of one count each of second-degree burglary and possession of methamphetamine, and a state Department of Corrections warrant.

He was being held on $125,000 bail.

Rapp, being held on $250,000 bail, was booked for investigation of one count each of second-degree assault and third-degree assault against a law enforcement officer.

Deputies believe Nelson drove a vehicle involved in the Bremerton-area gun store burglary.

On April 12, deputies arrested Nelson’s alleged accomplice, Matthew Howard Wright, 24, of Bremerton, at a mobile home park along state Highway 3 in South Kitsap.

Wright remained Tuesday in the Kitsap County jail on $250,000 bail, booked for investigation of first-degree burglary, theft of a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.

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