A 20-year-old Vancouver man who is accused of firing a weapon at a moving vehicle full of people, including his former girlfriend, appeared Monday in Clark County Superior Court.
Cornelius M. Birdsong faces allegations of four counts of first-degree assault, one of which is domestic violence-related, as well as fourth-degree domestic violence assault.
Judge John Fairgrieve set Birdsong’s bail at $200,000. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23, court records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Vancouver police officers were dispatched at 5:07 a.m. Saturday to the area of Southeast 196th Avenue and 34th Street for a report that someone was chasing and shooting at a group of people.
Arriving officers came upon a blue car with an apparent bullet hole through the back, according to the affidavit. A passenger in the vehicle told police she’d gone to the home of her former boyfriend, Birdsong, with the three other people in the car.
She said she “had knocked on Birdsong’s window and had knocked a piece of the window out,” the affidavit says.
She and Birdsong started arguing, and the dispute turned physical when Birdsong began striking her multiple times, according to the affidavit. The woman ran back to her vehicle and fled; Birdsong allegedly hopped in a car and pursued the group.
“Birdsong fired multiple shots at the vehicle — striking the rear of the victim vehicle. At least one shot damaged the frame of the vehicle, penetrating the back hatch door and entering into the passenger compartment,” the affidavit says.
Court records do not state whether anyone was wounded.
Birdsong fled the area, and officers were unable to immediately locate him. But the Clark County Jail’s inmate roster indicates he was arrested the same day as the shooting.
