Shooting suspect wanted on violation
Monday, September 22, 2008 10:27 AM PDT
SEATTLE (AP) — The man who fatally shot a U.S. Forest Service officer during a traffic stop in the Olympic Peninsula was wanted by the Washington Department of Corrections for failing to show up at an August meeting with his probation officer.
The probation officer had requested an arrest warrant for Shawn M. Roe, 36, who died Saturday in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies, but Mason County Superior Court had not yet issued the warrant, Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis told The Seattle Times.
The FBI and local authorities continued to investigate the shooting deaths of Officer Kristine Fairbanks, 51, and Richard Ziegler, 59, a retired California corrections employee who moved to area in May.
His body was found in a fifth-wheel trailer where he was living while building a house.
The shootings occurred Saturday afternoon and night on the northern Olympic Peninsula about 50 miles west of Seattle.
‘‘All of these crimes were within walking distance,’’ said state Trooper Krista D. Hedstrom.
Investigators searched a nearby campground Sunday without finding evidence of additional crimes, Hedstrom said.
‘‘We don’t want to say that there’s nothing else out there, but so far we haven’t come across any additional scenes,’’ Hedstrom said. ‘‘There’s no indication of any at this time.’’
All the people who live near Ziegler were visited by officers Saturday evening and every resident has been accounted for, she said. Investigators were still in the process Sunday afternoon of contacting everyone who had stayed at the nearby Dungeness Forks Campground, where some people believe Roe had camped.
Hedstrom said investigators did not know what they would find when they got inside a van they believe was driven by Roe and the stolen truck he was driving when Fairbanks pulled him over.
‘‘Until we get into that van, we don’t know what he was doing out there in the woods,’’ Hedstrom said. ‘‘We just have a lot of questions.’’
Investigators have speculated that Roe may have believed there was a warrant out for his arrest, she added, but the actual reason for the shootings may never be known.
‘‘Hopefully we can locate a campsite. Hopefully we can get some indicators out of that van. Right now there’s just a lot of questions and we don’t have answers,’’ she said.
Fairbanks, who leaves a husband and 15-year-old daughter, investigated mainly timber theft and illegal harvesting of salal, ferns, mushrooms, moss, cedar bark and grass in the nearly 1,000-square-mile Olympic National Forest.
As recently as late year, she was the only Forest Service officer in the state and one of just 40 nationwide who worked with a trained police dog. Her partner, a German shepherd named Radar, was found uninjured in her vehicle after she was shot.
‘‘We are all grieving today for the loss of Kristine Fairbanks,’’ said Cal Joyner, acting Pacific Northwest regional forester. ‘‘Our hearts and prayers go out to her family and friends.’’
Roe was a convicted felon with ‘‘an active criminal history.’’ He was convicted in 2007 of unlawful imprisonment, a felony, and malicious mischief, a gross misdemeanor, Lewis said.
In September 2006, Roe’s ex-wife, Mary Catherine Roe, carried a gun to her teaching job at Nisqually Middle School in Lacey because she said she was afraid of her ex-husband and he had threatened her with a gun. She had a domestic-violence protection order against him, The Olympian newspaper reported.
Mary Catherine Roe said she carried the gun for about a month, but later resigned from her position as a language arts teacher.
Shawn Roe was arrested July 21 in Mason County for failing to report to his probation officer and for consuming alcohol. He was sent to jail for 60 days, 30 of which were spent on electronic home monitoring, according to the Department of Corrections.
Roe finished this jail sentence on Aug. 10 and reported the next day to his community corrections officer.
Roe was carrying three handguns when he was shot and killed on Saturday, including Fairbanks service weapon, Hedstrom said. A fourth weapon, a long rifle, was found inside the pickup truck.
