Thursday, June 14, 2018  - Week 24

GRADUATION 2018

Journal photo by Gordon Weeks
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From left, K.C. Mann, Danielle Dusharme and Kim Brooks share a laugh before Shelton High School’s graduation ceremony June 9 at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey.

Tahuya man arrested on suspicion of homicide

By MICHAEL HEINBACH
michael@masoncounty.com

A 56-year-old Tahuya man was behind bars Wednesday morning at Mason County Jail in Shelton after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence murder.

According to a Mason County Sheriff’s Office declaration of probable cause, Stuart K. Sullivan called 911 just after midnight Wednesday morning from his Northeast Collins Lake Drive home to report that he believed his wife had died in the couple’s home.

“I beat the hell out of her a couple days ago and I think she just died,”

Sullivan reportedly told a dispatcher from MACECOM, the county’s 911 call-dispatch center. 

The Sheriff’s Office report states that when asked by the dispatcher what he’d used to beat the woman, Sullivan replied, “everything I suppose, she got beat up bad.”

Ryan Spurling, MCSO chief criminal deputy, told the Shelton-Mason County Journal on Wednesday morning that investigators found no indication of a weapon used in the alleged incident. He added that the Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the on-scene investigation by the Washington State Patrol’s incident response team.

Sullivan, who was taken into custody at his residence and reportedly booked into jail without incident, was scheduled to appear Wednesday for an identification hearing. That hearing, which was after the Journal’s deadline, may have decided if there was probable cause to charge Sullivan with a crime. It could have also set his bail amount.

The probable cause declaration states that after being arrested and transported to the Shelton detention facility, Sullivan refused to provide investigators with a recorded interview, invoking his right to have an attorney present.

Sheriff’s Office personnel at the jail reported Sullivan had blood stains on his right shoe and on his hat.

​For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.​

Shots fired into local
tavern; Elma man jailed

By MICHAEL HEINBACH
michael@masoncounty.com

No one was seriously injured June 7 after a man allegedly fired six shots into Bob’s Tavern in Shelton.

Just hours after he was arrested by Shelton Police, Tyler Lee James Lamphiear attended an identification hearing in Mason County Superior Court via video conference from Mason County Jail. There, Judge Monty Cobb found probable cause to hold Lamphiear, 21, on pending charges of first-degree assault, DUI and attempting to elude law enforcement.

Cobb set Lamphiear’s bond at $250,000 and his arraignment hearing for Monday.

Lamphiear, an Elma resident, remained in Mason County Jail as of Tuesday morning’s in-custody report.

One customer at the South First Street bar reportedly received superficial shrapnel wounds, but required no medical attention. No additional injuries were reported. 

The Shelton Police Department declaration of probable cause alleges that Lamphiear and another patron had been at the bar earlier in the evening, left, then, according to a witness, “came back very intoxicated.”

According to the police report, Lamphiear then started verbal confrontations with other bar patrons, and he and the person he was with were asked to leave. Both reportedly argued before leaving, when shots were fired into the front door from outside the entrance. The immediate investigation recovered six .380-caliber bullet casings by the tavern’s front door.

Law enforcement was called and was told the suspect had left the scene, headed southbound on Olympic Highway South in a green Toyota.   

Police soon located a green 2000 Toyota Camry traveling eastbound on East Ellinor Avenue, where it reportedly crashed into garbage cans before backing into parked vehicle. 

A man police identified as Lamphiear was handcuffed and searched as officers discovered a Ruger pistol inside a holster. A news release issued by Capt. Mike Fiola of the Shelton Police Department that day states the suspect has a concealed-carry permit.

​For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.
Journal photo by Alexandra Smith

Members of the Mary M. Knight High School football team take to the field Monday for the final two days of spring practice. The team worked extensively on tackling and blocking. 

Shelton alumni win six events

By ALEXANDRA SMITH
alexandra@masoncounty.com

The Olympic College track and field team competed at the NWAC Championships May 19 and 20 in Gresham, Oregon, and two Shelton High School alumni took home six titles. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished fourth overall, the highest in school history since the reboot of the program in 2008.  The Ranger student-athletes earned 30 medals in 16 events.  Five Rangers received All-American honors, given to the top-three finishers in each event. 

The highlight of the meet was the two athletes who put on a throwing clinic in their events.  Siblings Kaitlin and Colton Paller, both Shelton High School graduates, both won the three events they entered.  Sophomore Colton Paller repeated as NWAC discus champion while adding hammer and shot put trophies to his resume.  Freshman Kaitlin Paller one-upped her big brother by winning the hammer, shot put and discus in her first championship meet.  

“To sweep all the throwing events like that is rare.  To do it on both the men’s and women’s side is nearly unheard of,” Olympic track and field head coach Jakan Austin said.

​For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.