SEQUIM — Several witnesses heard Clallam County sheriff’s deputies order Shawn Matthew Roe to surrender before they shot him Sept. 20 at the Longhouse Market and Deli, according to an investigator.
The report by State Patrol Detective Brian George was released Thursday by Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict.
It details Roe’s death after law enforcement agencies from across the North Olympic Peninsula fanned out in a massive manhunt, searching for him after veteran Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks was found dead near her truck at the Dungeness Forks Campground south of Sequim.
Fairbanks, 51, had been shot once in the head after she called a State Patrol dispatcher to report that she was checking a Dodge van without license plates, and named Roe, whose last known address was in Everett, as the person in the van.
Seven hours later, Roe, 36, having been recognized at the Longhouse, was shot five times in the torso by Deputies Matthew Murphy and Andrew Wagner as he left the convenience store, the report said.
George’s report said that Sequim Police Chief Robert Spinks saw Roe move his hand to his waistband an instant before he was shot.
Murphy and Wagner said they saw Roe draw a black semiautomatic pistol and point it at Wagner, according to the report, and Murphy heard a gunshot before the deputies opened fire — Murphy with a pistol and Wagner with a rifle.
As Roe dropped face down, a 9 mm Glock handgun fell a few feet from him.
It was Fairbanks’ service weapon.
The state patrol report said two more loaded handguns — a .22 revolver and a 9mm semiautomatic ¬Âidentical to Fairbanks’ pistol — were found on Roe’s body, along with nearly 100 rounds of ammunition.
According to investigators, after Roe shot Fairbanks, he left the campground in his Dodge van and abandoned it for a white pickup truck he stole from Richard Ziegler after killing the 59-year-old Sequim retiree.
The second murder occurred at the site of the home Ziegler was building near Louella Road between the campground and the Sequim city limits.
Investigators say Roe then drove to the Longhouse in Blyn.
Roe was identified at the Longhouse from a photograph that officers had left there a short time earlier, George said.
Roe’s photograph, which was on file with the state, was distributed to several places.
The 9-1-1 call from the market came at 9:16 p.m., and the deputies who answered it spotted Roe at the Longhouse checkout counter.
Account of a shoot-out
Then, the report said:
“Roe exited the store through the main entrance. . . . As soon as Roe was in sight, both deputies began issuing verbal commands.
“Roe . . . took five steps and snapped his head to the direction of Deputy Murphy and Deputy Wagner . . . Roe took two additional steps and simultaneously moved his right hand to his waist.
“Deputy Wagner . . . observed Roe draw a handgun from his waistband. As Roe came up with a black semiautomatic handgun, Deputy Wagner, in fear of his life, discharged four rounds from his service weapon at Roe to stop the threat.”
Simultaneously, the report said, “Deputy Murphy heard a gunshot and reacted when he felt Deputy Wagner was being shot at. Deputy Murphy discharged five rounds from his service rifle.”
Single 9mm shell casing
Wagner’s weapon was a .40 caliber pistol. Murphy’s was a .223 Colt AR-15.
Investigators found a spent 9mm casing at the scene, and Benedict said authorities found that both 9mm pistols had been fired.
The fatal events ended by 9:19 p.m. The deputies said no more than 10 seconds had elapsed from the time Roe exited the market until he was shot.
According to the report, three witnesses besides Spinks heard the deputies yell at Roe outside the Longhouse.
One said a deputy shouted, “Freeze!” Another said the officers told Roe to “put up your hands.” A third said he “heard deputies state several times, ‘Put the gun down.'”
The report said, “Deputies Murphy and Wagner’s accounts of the events which took place are validated by video surveillance and witnesses who observed the incident.”
Justifiable deadly force
The report ended with a section of the Revised Code of Washington, which says, in part, that a peace officer may be justified using deadly force if “the suspect threatens a peace officer with a weapon or displays a weapon in a manner that could reasonably be construed as threatening.”
Murphy and Wagner received medals of valor from Benedict in a standing-room-only ceremony Oct. 21 in front of Clallam County commissioners.
“I’m extremely pleased with the performance of all the law enforcement agencies and the two deputies that were involved in the shooting,” Benedict said Thursday.
“It was a sterling performance.”
Fairbanks, a Forks resident who is survived by her husband and daughter, Brian and Whitney Fairbanks, was mourned at a memorial that drew thousands Sept. 29.
Ziegler’s remains were returned to California, said his mother, Helene Ziegler of Cambria, Calif. He had moved to Sequim from Los Osos, Calif., after retiring in May from his job as a corrections officer in San Luis Obispo.
More reports of investigations into the Fairbanks/Ziegler/Roe shootings remain to be made public, Benedict said.
A sheriff’s department report on the Ziegler murder is awaiting ballistics results, he said.
The FBI’s report on the Fairbanks killing also is being written.
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
