Police investigate shooting in Maplewood Neighborhood

Vancouver police are investigating a possible shooting and crash that was reported late Monday night in the Maplewood neighborhood.

Police responded to a 911 call in the 1700 block of Norris Road at 11:56 p.m. for a report of someone shot. Arriving officers found a man suffering from life-threatening injuries in the street near a vehicle that had crashed into a fence, according to a press release issued early Tuesday morning.

Vancouver police say the 39-year-old man injured during the incident and found at the scene was not driving the vehicle that hit the fence, nor was he hit by the vehicle.

The man did, however, suffer a significant head injury, though the nature of the injury has not been determined, police said. He remains hospitalized.

“We have some pieces that are still not confirmed,” Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said. “We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on.”

Kapp said that no one else was injured.

No suspect has been found and the identity of the victim was not released.

Bill Lundahl, 62, lives at a duplex that sits at the corner of East 18th Street and Norris Road and was awake when he heard gunshots. A short time later, he said, a sedan crashed into the wooden fence that lines his backyard. A no parking sign near the intersection stood bent and leaning.

After coming outside, he confronted the man he said was driving the vehicle, who was bleeding from the face.

“I got in his face … I told him to get the car the hell out of our yard,” Lundahl said. He said he reacted that way because he is used to the rough neighborhood. The man, Lundahl said, fled the area.

Detectives with the Vancouver Police Department Major Crimes Team and the Safe Streets Task Force, the department’s gang unit, are continuing the investigation.