A Vancouver man is accused of shooting through the front door and a bedroom window of his estranged wife’s Hazel Dell house while she and their children were home.
Robert E. Mitchell, 55, appeared Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of drive-by shooting and attempted first-degree burglary, both domestic violence-related; second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm; and attempt to elude.
His bail was set at $300,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 9.
Court records indicate prosecutors intend to seek a sentence above the standard range if Mitchell is convicted, due to the aggravating circumstances that children were present and that the allegations amount to deliberate cruelty or intimidation toward the victim.
At 9:45 p.m. Oct. 20, a Clark County sheriff’s deputy patrolling the Hazel Dell area heard four gunshots and saw a gold sedan speeding east on Northeast Minnehaha Street. The deputy heard the shots in the area of the 1100 block of Minnehaha Street, according to a probable cause affidavit.
One minute later, a woman in the area called 911 and said she thought her estranged husband, whom she identified as Mitchell, threw something through her window, court records state.
When a deputy arrived at her house, he observed spent shell casings in the street and bullet strikes on her front door and on a window above the door, the affidavit states.
Neighbors also told deputies they saw a man shoot at the house before speeding away in a gold sedan. Neighbors identified the man as “Robert,” according to court records.
Deputies watched video from a neighbor’s Ring doorbell, which showed Mitchell outside the woman’s house, shouting expletives while kicking at the front door. He can then be seen firing four shots into the door and two into an upstairs window, which the woman said Mitchell would’ve known was her bedroom window, the affidavit states.
The woman told deputies there was a history of domestic violence in their relationship, which led to their estrangement, court records state. She said Mitchell was not in favor of the divorce and parenting plan for their two children.
She said they’d been arguing that day before Mitchell showed up at her house around 6 p.m., drunk and wanting to see the kids. She said she did not allow him inside, and he left, according to the affidavit.
The woman told deputies she was on her bed in her room when the bullets came through the window. Their two children were in a bedroom at the back of the house. She said she thought Mitchell was trying to break the window’s glass to get inside. She also told them she armed herself with a knife because she was afraid Mitchell would harm her, court records state.
Deputies who were following the gold sedan said the driver was speeding at 80 mph on St. Johns Road, where the speed limit is 40 mph, the affidavit states. When deputies activated their emergency lights, they said the driver attempted to elude them south on Interstate 5. Deputies said they saw the driver try to pass other vehicles on the right, while people were attempting to yield to the oncoming emergency vehicles.
One deputy saw the driver of the sedan throw a gun out the car window while on the Interstate 5 Bridge, according to court records.
Deputies eventually performed a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT maneuver, on the sedan and stopped it on the Oregon side of the bridge. They identified the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle as Mitchell, according to the affidavit.
The handgun, a Ruger LCP .380 caliber, was located midspan of the I-5 Bridge, and it was collected as evidence.
Because the pursuit ended in Oregon, Mitchell was booked into the Multnomah County Jail before he was extradited to Clark County.
Mitchell’s criminal history showed he has a domestic violence assault conviction in Washington, along with other Oregon convictions, which prohibit him from possessing a firearm, the affidavit states.
