Investigators say that in the days and weeks before a Washington State Patrol trooper was shot, local police, a neighbor and a property management company were concerned about the potential for violence if Brandon D. O'Neel was evicted.
O'Neel, 37, was not home Sept. 22 when deputies arrived to evict him. Later that day, and less than a half mile from O'Neel's apartment, Trooper Dean Atkinson Jr. was shot in the face.
Court documents filed by investigators outline a series of events beginning Aug. 12 when Walla Walla Sheriff deputies were assigned to serve an eviction notice to O'Neel.
Evictions, or Writs of Restitution, as the Sheriff's Office refers to them, are not uncommon. As of the end of September the Walla Walla Sheriff's Office had carried out 97 evictions for the year, according to Sheriff Chief Deputy Richard Schram.
They always have the potential to be dangerous, Schram said.
"Unless the location is vacant upon our arrival, which does happen from time to time, these are usually tense and can become hostile situations to resolve," Schram said. "No one likes seeing their belongings placed out on the public right of way and told not to return to where they had been residing.
"We consider each and every one as (potentially dangerous) until it proves otherwise," he said. "We send multiple deputies every time and regularly have others on standby in case the situation worsens. In fact, our civil process server does not do these at all and waits for the deputies to serve and return the paperwork to him."
In O'Neel's case, there were indications that an eviction might not go smoothly. An eviction summons application filed by the apartment's property management company cited an alleged threat by O'Neel to "execute any cop or manager" who tried to evict him, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by the sheriff's office.
That prompted law enforcement to issue an "officer safety" flag for O'Neel and his apartment, meaning multiple officers would respond to his apartment for any reason.
Deputies served O'Neel with an eviction notice Aug. 20. On Sept. 15, they posted a final notice on his door, according to the court document.
The next day, a neighbor of O'Neel contacted police expressing concern for his safety saying he was worried about being hit by gunfire if the eviction triggered an altercation, according to court documents.
The neighbor told police O'Neel had a history of threatening to kill people in the building, according to the document.
Court records indicate deputies arrived to remove O'Neel from the apartment at about 10:50 a.m. Sept. 22. Before entering the apartment, deputies sent in a drone which showed no one was home.
Once inside the apartment, officers saw a note on a wall with the word "BOMB" on it. A Washington State Patrol bomb squad was summoned, but no bomb was found.
At 4:49 p.m., the apartment manager told police that O'Neel had returned to the apartment then left after trying to enter.
Less than 20 minutes later, a witness saw a man get out of a silver car stopped next to a Washington State Patrol vehicle on West Poplar Street and fire a gun three to four times at Trooper Dean Atkinson.
Minutes after the shooting, Milton-Freewater police, who were responding to the call, spotted O'Neel's 2002 Toyota Echo heading south toward Oregon.
It entered Oregon, but police pursued it back into Washington, where Walla Walla Police Officer Nat Small used his patrol vehicle to force the Toyota off the road and crash in the area of Farmland Road and Old Milton Highway, according to Randy Maynard, the Kennewick Police Department commander who leads the multiagency Special Investigation Unit investigating the case.
Maynard said O'Neel was not injured in the crash.
Despite being shot in the face and hand, Atkinson drove to Providence Saint Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla and was later transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
He was released Sunday, Oct. 2, and was escorted across the state back to his Walla Walla home by a small convoy of police officers.
O'Neel is charged with first-degree attempted murder with a firearm, first degree assault with a firearm, attempting to elude with a firearm, threatening to bomb or injure property and harassment.
