A Ridgefield man is accused of shooting at a pursuing police vehicle during a chase Saturday through central Vancouver after he allegedly attempted to rob a convenience store at gunpoint.
Shane S. Chandra, 27, appeared Thursday in Clark County Superior Court charged with drive-by shooting, first-degree robbery, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle. His bail was set at $500,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned March 17.
Judge John Fairgrieve said it was “hard to think about a more risky situation to the public or to law enforcement officers here.”
An employee at 24 Hour Food Mart reported at 4:45 p.m. that a man came into the store at 2721 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. and asked for a pack of cigarettes. When the employee turned to grab them, she said the man, later identified as Chandra, put a gun on the counter and demanded $300, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The woman told police that Chandra said, “I’ve never done this before. I have a baby on the way,” the affidavit states. She told Chandra she didn’t have $300, and he left with the pack of cigarettes, court records say.
A Vancouver police officer located the car Chandra was seen leaving in at Northeast Burton Road and Northeast 25th Street. When the officer tried to pull Chandra over, he sped off, and officers began chasing him, the affidavit states.
A witness told police she saw Chandra point a gun out the car window and fire two shots at an officer chasing him on Burton Road between Northeast 86th Street and Interstate 205, according to the affidavit. No one was wounded.
At an overpass near Northeast Airport Way and Sandy Boulevard in Gresham, Ore., police saw Chandra throw the gun out of the car, according to court records. Officers found the gun and stored it as evidence.
The chase ended in Portland at Northeast 33rd Avenue and Broadway when police performed a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT, maneuver on Chandra’s car. Court records show he was arrested in Oregon and extradited to Clark County.
Officers said they saw Chandra in the driver’s seat and a spent shell casing in the driver’s compartment of the car. Chandra allegedly admitted to police he’d robbed the store at gunpoint, the affidavit states.
