A Washougal woman is accused of shooting her former boyfriend March 21 while driving on northbound Interstate 205 following an altercation at his birthday celebration at an east Vancouver bar.
Helena Villa-Rodriguez, 27, appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree assault, first-degree domestic violence assault and drive-by shooting, court records show. She was arrested Monday.
Judge Jennifer Snider set Villa-Rodriguez’s bail at $200,000, and she is scheduled to be arraigned April 29, according to court records.
A probable cause affidavit states Villa-Rodriguez approached her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend earlier in the night at The Offramp Sports Bar and Grill, 400 N.E. 112th Ave. Villa-Rodriguez and another individual left the bar following the encounter.
About 1 a.m., the man and his girlfriend left the bar and reported seeing a person they believed to be Villa-Rodriguez in a silver SUV near the entrance. In conversations with police, the man’s girlfriend said she felt Villa-Rodriguez was following the duo, the affidavit states.
Court records indicate the couple left in a Toyota Avalon. Surveillance cameras in the area captured the silver SUV, a Honda Pilot, following the Toyota. It appeared a man was driving, and Villa-Rodriguez was in the passenger’s seat.
At 1:09 a.m., the SUV is seen catching up to the Toyota on I-205 at Milepost 30, traveling next to the driver’s side. An arm is then seen hanging out the window and at least nine shots are fired at the Toyota, according to the affidavit.
Villa-Rodriguez’s former boyfriend suffered three bullet wounds to his left side; he was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver for emergency surgery. He was in stable condition at the time the affidavit was written.
The affidavit states investigators recovered several .45 caliber shell casings at the scene, and there were nine bullet holes in the victim’s vehicle. He confirmed to police he had previously dated Villa-Rodriguez and that she had apparently threatened him in the past “if he ever did her wrong.”
