Both directions of Interstate 84 were closed between Interstates 205 and 5 in Portland. Police are investigating a car chase that crossed state lines from Vancouver, erupted into gunfire and ended with the arrest of another suspect in the homicide of Kelso convenience store clerk Kayla Chapman, 30. (Jack Heffernan/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
Erkinson K. Bossy, 23, was booked Saturday afternoon on a fugitive hold out of Cowlitz County. He is being held without bail, according to a spokesman with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
Kelso police say Bossy was driving the getaway vehicle in a fatal robbery Jan. 22 at Holt’s Quik Chek Market in Kelso.
Bossy will be arraigned Tuesday morning in Multnomah County Circuit Court. He will be extradited from Oregon to Washington, Kelso police Capt. Darr Kirk previously told The Columbian, a custody process that could take weeks.
Portland police arrested Bossy the night of Feb. 5 on westbound Interstate 84 near the Lloyd Center exit following a police chase from Vancouver.
Vancouver police Officer James Porter, 28, fired his weapon during the chase and was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. He was placed on critical incident leave, standard protocol in an officer-involved shooting, according to a Vancouver Police Department press release.
Porter was not shot during the chase, Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp previously said, but she declined to go into detail about the nature of his injuries.
The pursuit started shortly before 7:30 p.m. near the intersection of state Highway 500 and Northeast Thurston Way when police spotted Bossy in a dark-colored pickup and tried to stop it.
The pickup sped off, heading east on Highway 500 and then south on Interstate 205. It crossed the Glenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridge into Portland before turning onto westbound I-84, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian.
Vancouver police pursued the pickup into Oregon because of Bossy’s alleged connection to the Kelso homicide, and because he was believed to be armed, Kapp previously said.
At some point on I-205, shots were exchanged between the pickup and Porter. Investigators have not said who fired first. The shootout spanned a total of 6 miles on I-205 and I-84, according to Portland police.
Police performed a Pursuit Intervention Technique, or PIT, maneuver, on I-84 to stop the pickup and took Bossy and an unnamed person into custody.
One person in the truck suffered life-threatening injuries unrelated to the gunfire. The other person was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. Police did not disclose the nature of Bossy’s injuries.
I-84 between I-205 and Interstate 5 was closed for about 13 hours, affecting tens of thousands of people during the the morning commute. A section of I-205 was also closed for a shorter period of time.
Investigators say Bossy and Nenemeny W. Ekiek, 21, were with D’Anthony Leslie Williams, 19, when Williams allegedly shot and killed 30-year-old Kayla Chapman, a store clerk at Holt’s Quik Chek Market in Kelso.
Williams was arrested in Camas the day after the fatal shooting. Ekiek was arrested during a traffic stop in Vancouver hours before the police chase.
Both men have already appeared in Cowlitz County Superior Court on allegations of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Kayla Chapman
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