Breaking news
The suspect in the shooting of Clark County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sergeant Jeremy Brown, Guillermo O. Raya, has been located and arrested in Salem, Oregon, according to a release from the Vancouver Police Department on Sunday evening. Raya will be extradited to Clark County to face charges related to Brown’s death. More to come later.
Earlier story
The suspect involved in a Clark County deputy’s killing believed law enforcement had been tailing him and three others before he shot the deputy in a parked Jeep, new court records show.
Guillermo O. Raya, 26, ultimately confronted the driver and fired at him, according to court documents published Saturday. Detective Jeremy Brown, 46, later died at the hospital from his injuries.
The documents are based on interviews with two other suspects from the encounter: Misty May Raya and Abran Raya Leon, both of whom were taken into custody after the shooting.
The two told investigators that Guillermo Raya believed the group was under police surveillance as they drove from a Target retail store to The Pointe Apartments in east Vancouver. The documents don’t make clear what crimes they were believed to be suspected of committing.
The entrance of The Pointe Apartments pictured Saturday, July 24. A Clark County Sheriff's deputy died in a shooting at the apartments Friday evening.
Troy Brynelson / OPB
When the trio entered the apartments, the documents said, Raya grew suspicious that the driver of a maroon vehicle was a police officer. The others, they told investigators, told Raya he was “trippin’.”
Court documents said Guillermo Raya left the apartment, took an indirect route to the car, then arrived at the Jeep’s driver side window. He “appeared to be engaged in a verbal exchange with the occupant,” according to documents.
Gunshots then rang out.
Brown, who served nearly 14 years with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, died at PeaceHealth Southwest Washington Medical Center. The death marked the first line-of-duty death in Clark County since 2004.
Guillermo Raya is being charged with first-degree aggravated murder, the documents show.
The Vancouver Police Department is leading the investigation. The agency has historically had at least one officer serving on the same joint drug task force Brown served on.
After the shooting, Guillermo Raya reportedly returned to the apartment with plans to flee.
“(Abran) said that suddenly Guillermo returned to the apartment and emphatically expressed that they needed to leave now,” the documents said.
“Both Misty and Abran stated that they observed Guillermo to have been in possession of a large, silver revolver that he was known to carry in waist pack (sic),” the documents said. “Both Misty and Abran stated that Guillermo told them that he ‘shot at me first’ and that he ‘shot back at him twice but he ducked down and didn’t hit him.’”
Investigators recovered a revolver from the scene, the documents said.
Multiple people fled the scene, investigators said. A vehicle crashed near Padden Parkway and Interstate 205. Then, investigators said, three occupants fled on foot.
Law enforcement agencies then apprehended Abran Raya Leon and Misty May Raya. Police arrested both on unrelated felony warrants, investigators said.
Guillermo O. Raya was also charged with possession of a stolen firearm. He remains at-large.
This article may be updated.
