Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Update!!!..Astoria Police And Warrenton/Astoria High Schools Investigate Potential Shooting Plot. A 16 Year Old Student Arrested

Tuesday, Nov. 1,
2011

Update!
SUSPECT DENIED
RELEASE IN ALLEGED SOLICITATION TO COMMIT AGGRAVATED MURDER


A 16-year-old male
juvenile was taken into custody Monday, Oct. 31 by the Astoria Police Department
on a charge of Solicitation to Commit Aggravated Murder.
Peter Ancel Williams,
dob 10/13/95, is currently being held in the custody of the Clatsop County
Juvenile Department at the Youngs Bay Juvenile Detention facility in Warrenton.
Williams appeared by telephone at a hearing before Clatsop County Circuit Court
Judge Phil Nelson on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Nelson ordered the suspect to continue to
be held in detention pending a hearing scheduled for Nov. 15 at 1:15
p.m..
At the hearing
Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis said Williams, a student at
Astoria High School, allegedly approached a 15-year-old juvenile regarding a
plan to engage in a mass shooting at Astoria High School.

Released by:
Tom Bennett
Community Relations
Coordinator
(503) 338-3622
Report One!
Astoria Police and Schools Investigate Plot
16 Year Old Student Arrested
On the afternoon of October 31, 2011 Astoria Police were contacted by Astoria High School administrators reporting that they had received information that a 16 year old male student had attempted to get another 15 year old student to join him in a school shooting at Astoria High School. The student solicited to join in the shooting brought printed Facebook messages to school administrators. School administrators immediately reported the matter to police.

Based on the initial investigation into the matter, Astoria Police determined that this was not a single conversation about a fantasy but a series of conversations expressing the desire to shoot people at the Astoria High School and to engage this particular 15 year old boy as a partner in the activity. Police were able to find corroborating evidence of the conversation. A search of the 16 year olds residence did not reveal any firearms. The 16 year old student lives with his mother in Astoria.

The 16 year old student was arrested by School Resource Officer Ken Hansen for Solicitation to Commit Murder. He was lodged by the Clatsop County Juvenile Department. The matter remains under investigation as Astoria Police look for further information about the potential plot. There is no current information that others are involved. Astoria Police will be interviewing witnesses and looking for any additional information.

Deputy Chief Brad Johnston said, “It is good that this 15 year old was able to see the severity of the situation and contact adults that he trusted. Early intervention in situations like this is best for all parties involved. The cooperation of schools and police during a situation like this is outstanding. While our processes run independent of each other they overlap well and we were able to keep in communication throughout the incident. Having a School Resource Officer who is in touch with the kids and knows who is who in the schools was a huge help in this investigation. He had information that would not have been available to most police officers investigating this crime because of his ability to see kids interact and understanding the dynamics at the school.”

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now why would the Clatsop County PR guy front the release of this information when the Astoria Police made a news release? Especially interesting since the Clatsop County Sheriff's Office has nothing, nothing to do with this crime (although, as usual, the Sheriff takes credit for the work of the cities). Really, Bergin does not even run the emergency services office anymore.
Is Bergin really this hard up for positive news?

Anonymous said...

You have to see that the sheriff's department does so little it needs every excuse to make it seem that it actually does law enforcament rather than politics. Having the former Daily Astorian reporter horn in on what the cities do is understandable, given the conditions with law enforcement in the county.

Anonymous said...

The press release was from the County, not the Sheriff.

Anonymous said...

I thought the sheriff worked for the county and that all county news releases had to go through the county public information officer.
Thanks for the clarification. I did not realize the sheriff worked independent of the county and its policies.

Anonymous said...

The Sheriff and the DA are independent elected officials and
issue their own press releases.
All other county departments are headed by the County Manager.

Anonymous said...

Thsnks again. I have to wonder why the DA and Sheriff use county resources: like personnel, personnel services, vehicles, facilities and so forth, not to mention their salaries or "stipends" which are set by the county commission, when they are independent of the county. Sounds like a really good deal for these officials. No responsibility to live by county policies but getting all the benefits the county can offer. Maybe we should consider going back to the home rule charter, you know the one where the Sheriff was appointed and the DA only got what the state provided.
Anyway, I appreciate you clarifying this for me.

Anonymous said...

Okay...one more time.
Look at the County's website and the organization chart.
The Sheriff and DA are independent. They are the only county officials elected county-wide and they are required to follow all county personnel and budget policies, attend many meetings of department heads and other county functions. All their employees are county employees.
The sheriff doesn't get a "stipend." He is paid a salary set by the Budget Committee members.
The DA gets about $20,000 a year in exchange for managing a county department and keeping pay compression within his office.
Of course we could spin the clock back to that really profitable fiasco of 2007 when people like you claimed the DA shouldn't be paid anything because he didn't "do anything for the county." That is not the philosophy of the current commission (or at least 4 of them) and the county manager.

Anonymous said...

http://www.co.clatsop.or.us/%5CAssets%5Cdept_9%5Cpdf%5CDocs%5CORGCHART-DH.pdf

Anonymous said...

Once again, thanks for the clarification. I thought the DA employed an assistant, titled the Chief Deputy District Attorney and named Ron Brown who managed the DA's Office. Since Josh is paid a stipend by the county to manage the office, it would seem then this position is unnnecessary and could be eliminated or replaced with a lower paid prosecutor. That would create the situation you describe and save the taxpayers about $100,000 a year.
And, I certainly agree with you that the sheriff is paid a salary established by the county of about $90,000 plus 40% in benefits. My point was that the sheriff is elected, but he should not be independent of the county government because it pays him what it decides to pay him and it lets him use its resources. In fact, without the county government the sheriff is just a old guy with a hat and a gun. So, what I do not understand is why the sheriff and DA should not have to follow county policies if the DA is paid to run a county government office and the sheriff is funded entirely by the county government.
And who says 2007 was a fiasco? The voters voted to create the new charter and it required the sheriff to be hired based on experience, education and training not on just popularity.

Jim said...

Anon 8, sorry but I pasted the web information you provided into my browser and it said it could not find it. Could you recheck and forward please?

Patrick McGee said...

Clatsop County Organizational Chart

Notice who is at the top of it all?