After being treated for gunshot wounds, a 32-year-old Olympia man is being held in Thurston County jail in lieu of $50,000 for allegedly breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home and threatening her boyfriend with a metal pipe.
Timon Joseph Pitts-Howdeshell appeared virtually for his preliminary appearance in Thurston County Superior Court on Thursday. Deputies arrested Pitts-Howdeshell on May 22 on suspicion of first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and felony harassment.
County prosecutors charged him for those crimes on May 26 as he was being treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Law enforcement alleges his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend shot him twice as he broke into the girlfriend’s home and threatened to kill the boyfriend with a metal pipe, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Court Commissioner Nate Kortokrax set a bail amount higher than the $15,000 the prosecution requested. He said he is concerned Pitts-Howdeshell could commit a violent crime, interfere with the case or fail to appear if simply released.
If he does post bail, Kortokrax said Pitts-Howdeshell is barred from leaving the state, possessing dangerous weapons or contacting his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend.
A probable cause statement prepared by the prosecution details law enforcement’s investigation into the break in and shooting.
On May 22, deputies responded to a disturbance at a home on the 5900 block of Cooper Point Estates Lane Northwest in Olympia.
A woman called 911 to report her ex-boyfriend, later identified as Pitts-Howdeshell, had kicked in her front door after midnight, the statement says.
On the way there, deputies learned Pitts-Howdeshell had been shot in the face by the woman’s boyfriend and fled the scene in the woman’s car, per the statement.
As deputies attempted to locate Pitts-Howdeshell, one of them responded to a call informing them of someone suffering from a gunshot wound at a home on the 5700 block of Kinney Road Southwest, the statement says.
The deputy found Pitts-Howdeshell at the home at 1:13 a.m. and saw another man applying pressure to two of Pitts-Howdeshell’s gunshot wounds, according to the statement.
At the Cooper Point Estates Lane residence, deputies spoke with the woman’s boyfriend. The boyfriend told police Pitts-Howdeshell had been harassing and threatening him and his girlfriend for the past two months, per the statement.
The boyfriend allegedly told deputies that Pitts-Howdeshell awoke him and his girlfriend by banging on the front door, according to the statement. He said he armed himself with a handgun when Pitts-Howdeshell broke through the front door, the statement says.
The boyfriend claimed Pitts-Howdeshell threatened to kill him as he approached him with a raised metal pipe, per the statement.
The boyfriend reportedly told law enforcement he shot at Pitts-Howdeshell twice, according to the statement. Pitts-Howdeshell ran out of the home after the second shot, the statement says.
At the scene, detectives observed a double-door front entrance with a missing panel and broken hinges. They also noted a blood trail that led to the foot of the bed and metal pipe, per the statement.
Pitts-Howdeshell is due back in court for an omnibus hearing on June 9 and a trial confirmation hearing on July 8, Kortokrax said.
Lt. Cameron Simper told the Olympian no other arrests will be made in this case.
