A gun trafficker was found guilty Tuesday of fatally shooting Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Brown during a stake-out of a Vancouver apartment in 2021.
After a three-week trial, the Clark County Superior Court jury deliberated for roughly four hours before finding Guillermo Raya Leon guilty on all counts, including first-degree murder, trafficking stolen property, burglary and possessing a stolen firearm.
Raya Leon, now 28, had been on the run all day July 23, 2021, as police sought to arrest him, his brother and his brother’s wife in connection with the looting of $30,000 worth of rifles and ammunition from a Vancouver storage unit earlier that month.
After eluding Castle Rock police during a high-speed chase on Interstate 5, the trio fled to Cascade Station near Portland International Airport, where they abandoned their car and were picked up by an acquaintance, who took them to a flat at The Pointe apartments near Northeast 109th Avenue in Vancouver, according to trial testimony.
Brown, 46, was out of uniform and sitting in an unmarked Jeep SUV across a grassy lawn from the unit, but Raya Leon was able to identify the plainclothes detective, who had been using his radio and a police-issued laptop, due to the bright, sunny day.
Raya Leon then left the apartment, walked up a driveway and fired a single shot from a .357 magnum revolver, striking Brown in the back and piercing his heart as he sat in the front seat of the jeep. The detective, who was assigned to an interagency drug task force, fired seven times before losing consciousness but was unable to call for help.
“Jeremy Brown was trapped in that vehicle, in a terrible position,” Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik said during closing arguments Monday. “The defendant sneaks up on him — catches him off guard, catches him scared — and shoots him from behind.”
The trio then fled the apartment, leaving behind the cache of stolen guns. Raya Leon’s brother and his wife, Misty Leon, were arrested after the getaway car crashed, while Raya Leon managed to steal another car and flee to Salem, where he was arrested two days later.
Defense attorney Therese Lavallee had floated an alternate claim, saying Raya Leon fired only in self-defense after Brown shot first and failed to identify himself as a police officer.
But Golik said that theory was contravened by Raya Leon’s wild flight out of town and his later in-custody interview, where he told investigators he knew Brown was a law enforcement officer and said he didn’t know who fired first.
Raya Leon’s brother, Abran Raya Leon, was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in August, The Columbian newspaper reported. Abran Raya Leon’s wife remains in custody pending trial.
Guillermo Raya Leon faces a minimum of 25 years behind bars under Washington law.
