A 32-year-old man was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison in four separate cases, the most recent of which involved a shooting near Vancouver Lake that prompted a manhunt in the following days.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Daniel Stahnke accepted the attorneys’ recommended sentence of 180 months for Brad Lee Reeves of Vancouver.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes and defense attorney James Sowder said the stipulated sentence was reached after significant negotiations, and Reeves would have faced more time behind bars had he opted for a trial.
Sowder said his client should receive more than two years of credit for time served.
Addressing the court, Reeves apologized to the victims of his many crimes, stating he “never had a chance growing up.” Depression and drug addiction drove his actions for years, he said.
“I have my kids back in my life. I just want to better myself and move forward with my life,” Reeves said.
Reeves’ brother and mother told Stahnke that once he’s out, Reeves will have the support of his family.
Reeves was booked April 5, 2018, into the Clark County Jail on an outstanding warrant and on suspicion of two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of attempting to elude police and a single count of driving with a suspended license. The next day, he appeared in court to face those allegations and charges of failing to appear for older cases.
On March 29, 2018, Reeves fired five to six shots at a man who went to the end of Erwin O. Rieger Memorial Highway, near Vancouver Lake, to go off-roading. The victim was trying to report a suspicious circumstance; he saw a woman exit and then run back to a Kia sedan occupied by Reeves on the secluded road, according to a probable cause affidavit.
In early April 2018, Vancouver police tried to stop Reeves, who was driving a stolen white Ford F-250 pickup, but he fled down Interstate 5. Reeves rammed a pursuing patrol vehicle before the chase was called off near Jantzen Beach in Portland due to safety concerns. The next day, police say Reeves was spotted driving another stolen pickup, a blue Ford F-350. He allegedly sped off and avoided arrest once more. Those three incidents led up to an overnight search April 4 in Vancouver’s Rose Village neighborhood.
Police were dispatched about 8:50 p.m. to the 2100 block of East 26th Street for a report of a suspicious vehicle, according to a Vancouver Police Department press release. Arriving officers determined the vehicle had been stolen and Reeves was inside. As they approached, he ran into the neighborhood. Police and a SWAT team combed the neighborhood for hours before finding Reeves hiding in a yard several blocks away. Two officers fired their weapons at Reeves during the event. No one was injured. The officers who fired their weapons were later found to be justified in the use of deadly force.
Other cases
In October 2017, Reeves was accused, along with a co-defendant, of possessing a stolen vehicle and drug possession. Vancouver police attempted to contact Reeves, who was working on the stolen vehicle off East Fifth Avenue, but he fled on foot. He pleaded guilty in February to an amended charge of second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission.
About a week after Reeves was seen near the stolen car, detectives spotted him near a pickup that was later determined to be stolen, but he jumped in the truck and sped off. He was eventually arrested on Oct. 19, 2017, following another car and foot chase, according to probable cause affidavits. Reeves pleaded guilty to attempting to elude police and felony bail jumping in February.
In February 2018, Reeves again eluded police in a stolen vehicle on at least two separate occasions. He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of attempting to elude police in February.
These incidents led up to the Vancouver Lake shooting and subsequent manhunt.
