PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man who fired a gun three times from a moving vehicle in the Agnew area has been sentenced to 5½ years in prison.
Seth D. Weathers, 31, was sentenced Thursday by Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden after he was convicted May 14 following a two-day jury trial.
The jury found him guilty on one count of second-degree assault with a firearm enhancement and one count of drive-by shooting stemming from a December incident.
He could have been sentenced to as much as 23 years, but Basden followed the prosecutor’s sentencing recommendation.
“Weathers acted extremely recklessly,” said Steve Johnson, Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney, in a press release.
“The shooting occurred in an area where people have homes and ride horses,” Johnson said. “Old Olympic Highway is not that far away. This incident easily could have been much worse.”
The incident began about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 15 when two people riding horses in the 100 block of Finn Hall Road reported a speeding driver in a blue truck with a canopy who had fired three shots at them after they tried to slow him down by yelling and waving, according to court records.
The people who were riding the horses told deputies the truck driver didn’t slow down, so one of the horse riders threw his hat at the car.
Then the driver pointed a 9mm handgun out the window and fired three rounds in an unknown direction as he continued down Finn Hall Road, according to court records.
One of the people with the horses estimated the truck driver was traveling between 50 mph and 70 mph. The speed limit on that stretch of Finn Hall Road is 35 mph.
Another person in Agnew said she was outside near the roadway and the gunshots scared her so much that she ran and hid in a nearby building, according to a probable cause statement filed Dec. 18. After the truck driver passed, the woman checked her vehicle, where her 2-year-old was sitting, to make sure the child was OK.
No one was hurt in the incident.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office investigated and found a 9mm Hornaday shell casing at the scene. The next day, Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Brooks found Weathers driving a blue truck with a canopy and pulled him over.
Brooks searched Weathers and located a 9mm handgun loaded with Hornaday ammunition.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
