A string of drive-by shootings at Vancouver churches ended in a police chase down Interstate 5 early Tuesday morning, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
No one was hurt, but police arrested 23-year-old Aleksey Suturin of Vancouver on allegations of shooting a weapon from a moving car, first- and second-degree malicious mischief and attempting to elude police. Deputies said Suturin was wearing body armor at the time of his arrest and had a Sig Sauer handgun along with multiple 9mm pistol magazines.
The travail began around 1:40 a.m. when someone called 911 to report gunfire in the Walnut Grove area of Vancouver and then called back to say it was coming from the direction of Adventist Community Church on Northeast St. Johns Road. Deputies later found bullet holes in the front of the church and 9mm bullet casings in the parking lot.
About 20 minutes later, more people called 911 to report gunfire near Kessid Columbia Church on Northwest 99th Street in Vancouver. Deputies then found windows broken by gunfire, 17 bullet casings on church grounds and three bullet holes in an unoccupied Kia SUV in the church parking lot.
Back at the Seventh-day Adventist church around 2 a.m., deputies heard gunfire and spotted a blue SUV without headlights. When a deputy tried to follow it in a patrol car, the SUV driver sped away recklessly, deputies said.
But they traced the Toyota Highlander to an address in Felida and called the owner, who said he wasn’t home but that his wife and adult son were. There, deputies found the woman, an empty Sig Sauer pistol case — but not the son, now identified by deputies as Suturin.
Around 3:30 a.m, deputies heard a single shot near Columbia River High School and found a car with a bullet hole through its windshield. Back at the Felida home, deputies spotted the Toyota Highlander, again with no headlights, roll into Suturin’s neighborhood, sheriff’s officials said. The driver noticed the deputies and immediately fled, law enforcement said.
But they followed him to I-5 and threw down spike strips that eventually stopped the Highlander. Suturin allegedly bolted from the SUV but eventually surrendered safely, deputies said.
Suturin is in Clark County Jail, and a court date has not been released.
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