A Vancouver man is accused of injuring a neighbor with an ax after apparently mistaking a car parked in his spot for the neighbor’s car.
Christopher Schmitt, 43, was scheduled to appear in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree assault, first-degree burglary, unlawful imprisonment and third-degree malicious mischief. Jail staff said he was too sick to appear on the allegations Thursday and Friday, and a judge set his appearance for Monday.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies responded at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday to the parking lot at the Portola Bridge Creek apartments, 9211 N.E. 15th Ave., for a disturbance with weapons. When they arrived, they found a man, later identified as Schmitt, with bloody wounds on his head. Deputies detained him, and Schmitt told them he’d been hit in the head with an ax, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Deputies also found a man lying on the ground near the complex’s entrance with severe cuts to his forearm and head. They said he was covered in blood and his clothes appeared to have been cut. Medics took the man to an area hospital for treatment, the affidavit states.
After Schmitt was evaluated by a paramedic, deputies interviewed him. Schmitt allegedly told them he arrived home to find a car parked in his spot. He said he knew the car belonged to his neighbor. Deputies said the car is registered to a different person, according to the affidavit.
Schmitt allegedly told deputies that he smashed the car’s windows, and then he went to his neighbor’s unit and kicked the door in. He said he had an ax in one hand and a machete in the other, according to court records.
Schmitt said he yelled at the men inside the unit before one approached him with a knife. He said he got into a fight with that man, and he dropped his ax. Deputies said Schmitt wasn’t able to describe the details of the fight, but he said he eventually left the unit and went to sit in his car in the parking lot until deputies arrived, court records state.
Deputies found an ax and a machete on the ground near Schmitt’s car, court records state.
One of the neighbors in the unit told deputies he exited a bedroom to find Schmitt, a next-door neighbor, inside swinging an ax. He said his roommate screamed at him for help, and he called 911. He said he saw Schmitt lift both arms over his head like he was trying to swing the ax down on his roommate, but his roommate had a hold of Schmitt’s arm, preventing him from swinging it, according to court records.
A third roommate arrived home while deputies were on scene. He told them he thought Schmitt might have mistaken the Honda Civic parked in Schmitt’s spot with the Honda Accord he drove, the affidavit states.
