A Centralia woman faces possible prison time after she allegedly pointed her revolver at two teenagers lighting fireworks in her neighborhood.
She then allegedly fired one round as the two boys ran away.
Connie L. McArthur, 73, is charged with two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.
Lewis County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested McArthur on Monday following the incident. McArthur made a preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Despite noting McArthur’s lack of criminal history, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson requested a bail of $20,000 cash or bond, calling the allegations “serious.”
“She was armed with a firearm,” Jackson said. “ She discharged a round from the firearm.”
Jackson asked the court to enter anti-harassment no-contact orders on behalf of the victims. The prosecutor also requested an order for McArthur to surrender any firearms within her possession, along with her concealed pistol license.
According to court documents, McArthur already surrendered to deputies the Ruger LCR .38 caliber firearm she used in the alleged incident.
Jackson said one of the victims is McArthur’s neighbor.
Defense attorney Rachael Tiller asked the court to allow for an unsecured bond, citing McArthur’s lack of criminal history. Tiller noted that standard release conditions already specify that the defendant is prohibited from contacting others allegedly involved in the case.
“And she absolutely understands that, can abide by that,” Tiller said. “She is willing to sign a declaration of surrender of firearms.”
Tiller said that, upon her review of the probable cause affidavit, she found that McArthur was “extremely forthcoming” and cooperative.
“I believe she invited law enforcement into her home,” Tiller said.
Judge Joely Yeager said she understood McArthur's lack of criminal history, but said the allegations presented a “serious threat to community safety.”
Yeager set bail at $100,000 cash or bond, and granted the state’s requests for the no-contact orders and the weapons surrender.
According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies on Monday responded to a report of a “neighbor pointing a firearm at two juvenile males” in the 100 block of Gleason Road in Centralia. They arrived and spoke to the alleged victims, one of whom made the initial call.
According to the affidavit, the caller said he and his friend had been lighting fireworks from a wooden guardrail post when an “older female” approached from a nearby home and “began yelling at them.”
The teenager said he replied “yes” when the woman asked if they thought they were being funny.
According to the affidavit, the teenager said the woman responded by saying something like, “I’ll show you what’s funny.”
The woman allegedly pulled the revolver from her waistband and pointed it at the teenagers, who promptly ran away. Both victims reported seeing the woman fire a shot. One said she fired the round into the trees.
The deputies determined that McArthur was associated with the nearby home and showed the teenagers a photomontage with her image on it. The teenagers could not identify her.
The deputies walked to the home. They found McArthur, who reportedly said she was expecting them.
“She immediately explained that she was frustrated with the juvenile males setting off fireworks in the roadway,” the affidavit said. “She said that she yelled at them and asked if they thought what they were doing was funny.”
McArthur said one of the teenagers replied “yes” and mocked her, so she replied back with “something to the effect of her having something else that was funny,” according to the affidavit.
McArthur allegedly said she fired the revolver “directly into the ground.”
“She then offered to show the deputies where she was standing,” the affidavit said. “She again reiterated where she was standing when she drew her firearm and fired a shot into the ground.”
McArthur invited the deputies inside her home to look at the Ruger. The gun reportedly had five rounds in the cylinder’s five chambers.
“When asked if she had reloaded the firearm after the shot had been fired, Connie indicated that she had reloaded it,” the affidavit said.
The deputies arrested McArthur and booked her into the Lewis County Jail. She is scheduled for an arraignment on Thursday and will look to retain private defense counsel.
