A local government official confirmed Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, that a Clark County Sheriff's Office deputy shot and killed off duty Vancouver police officer Donald Sahota, 52, late Saturday night during pursuit of a robbery suspect.
Courtesy / Vancouver Police Department
Investigators have identified the deputy who shot and killed an off-duty Vancouver Police Department officer amid an erratic chase for an armed robbery suspect Saturday night.
Jon Feller, a deputy who joined the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in 2018, was immediately placed on administrative leave, investigators said Tuesday, after he opened fire on Officer Donald Sahota outside his home. Prosecutors have said in court that Feller mistook Sahota for the suspect.
The announcement came hours after the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed gunfire killed Sahota. The officer had also been stabbed by 20-year-old Julio Cesar Segura, the robbery suspect, during their fight before Feller arrived. The Medical Examiner said Tuesday that Sahota died of gunshot wounds to the torso.
Many details of the shooting remain unclear, such as what actions Feller took, if any, before shooting his rifle. Such details don’t usually emerge until after investigators interview the officer. An investigator told OPB on Tuesday they had yet to interview Feller.
Feller, 47, is one of three deputies who made headlines for his role in the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Kevin Peterson Jr. in October 2020. A regional drug task force had attempted to bust Peterson for selling Xanax. Peterson fled, then encountered two drug task force members in a nearby parking lot. Feller, a patrol deputy, also responded to the parking lot. He and the two drug task force members fired after Peterson turned and ran.
In August, Pierce County prosecutors deemed the Peterson shooting justified.
Feller started his law enforcement career in South Dakota. He told investigators during the Peterson shooting that he entered law enforcement in 1998, with stints at the University of South Dakota Department of Public Safety and the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
According to investigators — led by a team out of Cowlitz County — Feller fired “several rounds from a rifle” within seconds of arriving at Sahota’s home, as the officer was on his front porch.
“It appears the deputy mistook Officer Sahota for the suspect and fired his rifle, also, causing additional injury to Officer Sahota,” Prosecutor Tony Golik said during a court hearing Monday.
Court documents said the violent evening began with a robbery at Chevron gas station on NE 117th Avenue, near Vancouver. A deputy tailed the suspect, later identified as Segura, north on Interstate 205 and into the city of Battle Ground.
In Battle Ground, investigators said, deputies used spike strips to stop the vehicle Segura drove. He then allegedly fled on foot, and ultimately reappeared at the front door of Sahota’s home, which lay off a private road in a deeply wooded area.
Investigators said Segura told Sahota he was having car trouble. However, the exchange became aggressive and the two fought outside. Sahota held Segura at gunpoint, according to court records, until Segura stabbed the officer three times in the torso.
Segura ran toward the house, according to court documents. Sahota grabbed his pistol and pursued Segura until Feller, the deputy, arrived and shot.
“The responding deputies observed Officer Sahota obviously chasing the defendant back into his own home,” Golik said in court.
Sahota died on scene. Segura, court documents said, “stuck his hands out the front door and then exited the residence.” As he was handcuffed, he repeated “one lord. one god,” court documents said.
Segura is being held on $5 million bail. He is charged with first-degree attempted murder, attempt to elude, possession of a stolen vehicle, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. Segura’s family told OPB that he had shown no prior signs of violence.
This story may be updated.