Editor,

The report from Sheriff Felici in your front-page article on April 23 is incomplete and therefore misleading. From what I observed, the shooter was not conducting “target practice.”

When I called 911 after the shots were fired, I told the 911 operator what I observed. I also contacted the sheriff’s office, spoke with a deputy and then sent the following information via email to the sheriff.

I was the only protest participant who could see the shooter while he was shooting, because I was alone on the northwest corner of Highway 525 and could, therefore, see him in the backyard. The backyard was hidden from the rest of the protesters on the southeast side of the highway at Bayview Park and Ride.

The tenant walked about 15-20 feet out of the house that he rents into the backyard and shot off at least seven rounds in rapid succession from a rifle into a hill. He then immediately went back into the house.

When I called the Island County Sheriff’s Office the next day, the deputy told me that the man had said that he had been shooting at a “target” and conducting “target practice.” I saw no target. Moreover, the shooter’s claim that he was doing target practice appears to me to be nonsensical and patently false.

Someone intending to engage in target practice with a rifle typically: Would take careful aim at a target, rather than a hill or “dirt berm,” as he claimed, so that accuracy can be determined and improved. In this case, the shooter never aimed his rifle at a target, but began shooting into the hill as soon as he raised the rifle. Moreover, shooting wildly into a hill provides no sense of accuracy or skill, even if the bullet holes can be located. The shooter never walked over to the hill to determine his accuracy.

Would place the target at an appropriate distance, given the type of weapon being used. In this instance, the shooter claimed his “target” was the slightly inclined hill, which appeared to me to be only 20 feet away from him, an appropriate distance for handgun target practice, but not for a long-range rifle. In this case the shooter unloaded his rifle, almost as if it were an assault rifle, each shot separated by only 0.7 seconds, by my calculation.

It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the shooter was trying to intimidate the protesters, to get us to disperse and perhaps to create fear and terror among the thousands of protesters who have been exercising our free speech rights on the island in recent months and to discourage us from doing so in the future.

It is also reasonable to conclude that this man may be impulsive, reckless and dangerous. I have asked the commissioners to urge the sheriff to station a police car at future protests, for the safety and security of our citizens who are engaging in peaceful, nonviolent free speech.

Robert Kenny

Clinton