Felony charges filed in drive-by shootings

A Port Angeles man arrested in connection with two alleged drive-by shootings last week now faces two felonies after Clallam County prosecutors refiled charges following further investigation.

Seth D. Weathers, 31, was charged on Dec. 19 with one count of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon with a firearm enhancement and one count of drive-by shooting. Both are Class B felonies, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine, plus restitution and assessments.

The firearm enhancement could add another three years to the sentence or six years if Weathers previously has been convicted of the same charge.

Weathers remained in the Clallam County jail on Dec. 20 in lieu of $110,000 bail or cash bond.

The first shooting report was at about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 15 from two people with their horses in the 100 block of Finn Hall Road in Agnew.

They told deputies that a speeding driver fired three shots at them after they tried to slow him down by yelling and waving, the sheriff’s office said in a press release.

According to a second probable cause statement filed Dec. 18, one person in Agnew said she was outside near the roadway and the gunshots scared her so much that she ran and hid in a nearby building.

After the shooter passed, she checked her truck where her 2-year-old was sitting to make sure the child was OK.

One of the people with the horses estimated the shooter was traveling at a speed of between 50-70 miles per hour; the speed limit on that stretch of Finn Hall Road is 35 mph.

On Dec. 16, a second report of a drive-by shooting was received by the Port Angeles Police Department.

A witness said the driver of a blue Dodge pickup fired at another motorist in the area of the intersection of Park and Peabody streets, the sheriff’s office said.

Steve Johnson, Clallam County prosecuting attorney, wrote in an email last week that the Dec. 16 incident in Port Angeles was referred to district court because he did not believe the evidence in the probable cause statement met the elements of a drive-by shooting.

Regarding the incident in Agnew on Dec. 15, Johnson wrote that he had asked the sheriff’s office to conduct further investigation to determine if it would qualify as a drive-by shooting or another felony.

No one was reported hurt in the shootings.