Two men who allegedly fired shots at a group of high school students, wounding two, following an argument at Vancouver’s Marine Park in September were in Clark County Superior Court this week.
Mykola Kovalchuk, 20, of Gresham, Ore., appeared Thursday on suspicion of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, 11 counts of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of drive-by shooting. A co-defendant, Dmitriy Yurchenko, also 20, of Portland appeared Tuesday on the same charges.
Vancouver defense attorney Steve Thayer was present Thursday on behalf of Kovalchuk and argued that the probable cause affidavit, which has been sealed since the men’s arrest warrants were issued in mid-October, should be unsealed.
Deputy Prosecutor Aaron Bartlett agreed to unseal both cases. He added that there’s a separate ongoing investigation but would not elaborate further.
A group of 11 high school students were leaving a bonfire shortly before 11 p.m. Sept. 29 at the park, 4501 S.E. Columbia Way, when they encountered a group of 10 to 15 Eastern European males, including Yurchenko and Kovalchuk, in the parking lot. Some of the males were blocking a female student’s car from leaving, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The female student asked the group to move so she could back out of her parking spot, but they refused. The girl became impatient, she said, and told the group to move, using a derogatory term. In response, one of the males wanted to fight, the affidavit states.
Some of the other high school students tried to neutralize the situation by getting the female student back into her car and apologizing. But the male began to bang on the back of the girl’s car, court records said.
One of the students, fearing a fight would break out, ran back down to the bonfire to get help from other friends, according to court documents. Yurchenko, Kovalchuk and another male walked to a nearby vehicle and grabbed what appeared to be assault rifles from the trunk. Yurchenko and Kovalchuk fired rounds into the air and then began walking toward the now-larger group of high school students, the affidavit said.
The students began to flee when they saw the shooters. Some ran into the woods and others hid behind cars in the parking lot, court records said.
Yurchenko and Kovalchuk allegedly leveled their firearms and began shooting at the fleeing students. As a 16-year-old boy was running toward the woods, he was struck from behind in the left calf and fell to the ground, according to the affidavit. He was later transported to an area hospital by ambulance and required sutures.
The female student initially involved in the argument frantically tried to back out of her spot and struck a parked car. She told police that she heard one of the shooters say she struck their vehicle. The men then began to fire at her vehicle, court documents state.
A 15-year-old girl in the backseat said she felt pain and blood on her lower back and realized she had been shot, court records said. She was taken to an area hospital and then transported by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. She sustained a wound to her lower back and left hip and told police that bullet fragments entered her torso and are too deep to remove, according to the affidavit.
Vancouver police responded to the area and located 16 .223 caliber rifle casings in the parking lot. And they found the female student’s car had been struck by at least two rounds, one of which went through the rear seat and struck her passenger, court records said.
During Kovalchuk’s court appearance, Thayer said there are conflicting statements in the affidavit and read parts of the document aloud. He summarized that three witnesses reported that Kovalchuk and Yurchenko fired shots into the air but that Yurchenko was the only one who fired at the teens.
Thayer argued that Kovalchuk is not as culpable as Yurchenko and should not be charged with attempted murder but rather with aiming or discharging a firearm. He asked that Kovalchuk be granted release on his own recognizance or at least considerably less bail than the $2 million set for Yurchenko and requested by the prosecution.
Judge Scott Collier set Kovalchuk’s bail at $400,000.
Both men will be arraigned Nov. 10.
