SEQUIM — Shawn Roe drank heavily, spent weeks alone in the Cascade Mountains and spoke of committing “suicide by cop” in the weeks preceding his death, an investigator’s report says.
Roe, 36, died Sept. 20 of gunshots fired by Clallam County sheriff’s deputies outside the Longhouse Market & Deli in Blyn.
Authorities say he had murdered Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks and Sequim retiree Richard Ziegler earlier in the day.
In addition, the report by State Patrol Detective Brian George also quotes a journal Roe had kept starting Sept. 2 that investigators found at his campsite off Palo Alto Road.
Entries included:
•SEnS”I would rather die than spend another day in jail.”
Roe was wanted for violating his parole on convictions of unlawful imprisonment of his ex-wife, Mary Catherine White of Shelton, and malicious mischief toward her, but a warrant had not been issued by Sept. 20.
His probation would have ended April 15.
•SEnS”It does tempt me to go rain destruction on Shelton,” where the couple had lived before their divorce. “I’ll go Bonnie-and-Clyde for sure.”
Investigators have said they think Roe was on his way to kill his ex-wife in Shelton and perhaps his 8-year-old daughter and his former mother-in-law, Patti White of Shelton.
•SEnS”I don’t plan on quitting this time . . . at least go out with an action-packed bang.”
•SEnS”Until I am ready it will be me and my gun that decides [sic] when and where.”
George’s 13-page report, completed Nov. 5, was released Thursday by Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict.
“The conclusions I take from this are that Shawn Roe was clearly bent on more homicidal violence before we stopped him,” Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
“Truly, we’re talking about somebody who was in a downward spiral.”
Relatives’ statements
George’s report also quotes Roe’s relatives’ statements to FBI agents after the killings.
The FBI investigated part of the case because Fairbanks was killed at the Forest Service’s Dungeness Forks campground on federal property; the FBI report has not been released.
The State Patrol report was released with the names of Roe’s relatives obscured.
Their observations include:
•SEnSRoe’s mother in Everett — where he lived after leaving prison and before coming to Clallam County — said “she felt he was looking to commit ‘suicide by cop,'” according to the report.
He drank heavily and often spent weeks at a time alone in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the Cascades above Granite Falls in Snohomish County, his mother said.
He took $3,500 in cash and a rifle from her house when he left for Clallam County.
•SEnSA sister also said Roe told her he wanted to die by police gunfire, and a brother said Roe told his sibling he would go into the woods, shoot himself in the stomach and videotape his death.
•SEnSRoe’s ex-wife said she and the couple’s daughter had changed jobs and schools to hide from Roe.
She also said Roe had become addicted to pain-killing drugs, and described him “as a Rambo, a person who was very comfortable in the woods and skilled with weapons.”
She said her former husband had told her, too, that he wanted to kill himself.
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
