An 18-year-old Centralia man accused of pulling a knife on a Centralia College student during a dispute on campus on Monday is facing felony charges.
Bail is set at $50,000.
A Centralia College security officer reported the incident to the Centralia Police Department just before 11:25 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 14, stating “he had just watched on video a dispute with several individuals, during which a knife was pulled,” in the 600 block of Centralia College Boulevard, according to Centralia police call logs and Lewis County Superior Court documents.
The surveillance video reportedly shows three men “stalking” another man and the man’s two friends. The video reportedly shows one of the men from the pursuing group, who has since been identified as Jayden Gutierrez, “pulling something out (from) under his jersey.”
The video reportedly shows Gutierrez and another man wearing “gaiter masks pulled up to hide their faces” and “flashing what (an officer) described as gang signs,” according to court documents.
Gutierrez and the other two men in the pursuing group were then seen “running away, attempting to avoid being caught by the police,” according to court documents.
Centralia College security reported that Gutierrez fled west on Centralia College Boulevard and was last seen at the intersection of King and West Pear streets.
Centralia College security recovered a knife sheath in the area, but the knife was not located.
An officer with the Centralia Police Department located Gutierrez, who had reportedly taken off the jersey he was seen wearing at the time of the incident. One of the other men had reportedly “studded the shirt into his pants to conceal it,” according to court documents.
Gutierrez allegedly admitted to pulling a knife because the other person “looked like he had a weapon under his shirt,” according to court documents.
According to Centralia police, “The video does not show (the victim) pulling a knife or anything else” and “self-defense is not supported by the video.”
One of the two men associated with Gutierrez was seen videoing the incident on a cellphone, but he deleted the video after he was contacted by law enforcement, according to court documents.
Gutierrez allegedly “admitted that he pulled the knife and said to (the victim) ‘What’s up?,’” according to court documents. He later allegedly “reiterated that he had pulled a knife, but he said that he pulled it in self defense.”
When he was shown the sheath recovered by college security, Gutierrez allegedly “admitted that it was the sheath in which his knife was stored” and said “he threw the knife and the sheath in the bushes when he was running away.”
When interviewed by police, the victim, who is a student at Centralia College, said he met up with the three others to give them a vape pen, but said “he was scared for his life when he saw Jayden pull the knife.”
The victim and the victim’s friends are all students at Centralia College. Gutierrez is not a Centralia College student “and had no reason to be on campus,” according to court documents.
The victim said he had asked his two friends to walk with him after class “because he thought he was being stalked by Jayden” and the two other men, according to court documents.
Gutierrez was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 12:45 p.m. on Oct. 14, according to jail records.
He was charged Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of second-degree assault, unlawful display of a weapon and harassment.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17.
