A Clark County jury on Wednesday found a Vancouver man guilty of shooting and killing another man with a bow and arrow, rejecting his lawyer’s argument of self-defense.
Richard “Cole” Vanderhoek, 49, was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of 42-year-old David Collins, who he fatally shot outside Vanderhoek’s Vancouver home in 2024.
Vanderhoek called 911 at around 6:45 a.m. on April 2, 2024, and said a man had assaulted him. Other 911 calls then began to pour in from neighbors, reporting that a man had been shot with a bow and arrow.
When deputies arrived at the house at 3208 NE Petticoat Lane they found Collins sprawled on the ground with an arrow in his chest, dead. Vanderhoek was sitting on his porch and repeatedly saying something to the effect of, “I told him to stop assaulting me,” investigators said.
Vanderhoek gave investigators a first name for the dead man and referred to him as an acquaintance.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Vanderhoek had a visible facial injury. After being arrested and read his rights, Vanderhoek asked deputies to photograph his injuries, which included a scrape on his elbow and chest as well as the facial cut. He also complained of mouth pain.
Deputies then spoke with a neighbor, who said he first heard the commotion around 6:05 a.m. and looked outside to see two men fighting outside the house’s front gate.
The neighbor said he wasn’t sure who was “winning the fight,” but he saw the two men pushing each other around until the man in a “blue hooded sweatshirt,” later identified as Collins, walked away.
The neighbor told deputies he then witnessed the other man – he said he didn’t get a good look at him – get into a white Toyota Sequoia and appear to follow the man in the blue hoodie, according to the affidavit. He said the man in the Toyota revved the car’s engine and appeared to be driving “aggressively.”
Around 10 minutes later, the neighbor heard another commotion, and he saw the man in the blue hoodie standing outside the chain-link fence surrounding the other man’s house, according to court documents.
The neighbor said the man in the blue hoodie began walking towards the fence when he heard a “thump” noise and then saw the man with an arrow in his chest. He told deputies that he then saw Vanderhoek, who he was later able to positively identify to police, standing on the other side of the fence holding a bow.
According to the affidavit, the neighbor then asked Vanderhoek if he had shot the man, and Vanderhoek said something along the lines of, “I didn’t know what to do.”
The neighbor called 911 to report the incident and saw Vanderhoek on the phone as well, court documents state.
Vanderhoek’s next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30. He faces up to 18 years in prison for the conviction.
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