PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man is dead and a Sequim man was in the Clallam County jail Thursday for investigation of second-degree murder after a shooting at a birthday party east of Port Angeles.
Nathaniel Darren Olson, 27, is being held in the shooting death of Matthew Baker, 25, at a home in the 1500 block of Monroe Road, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
No bond was set for Olson.
He is scheduled to make his first appearance in Clallam County Superior Court at 3 p.m. today.
Deputies were called to the house at about 12:40 a.m. Thursday and found one man, later identified as Baker, on the floor dead of an apparent gunshot wound, said Ron Cameron, chief criminal sheriff’s deputy.
Deputies learned that a birthday party attended by five to seven people was being held there and that alcohol was in use, Cameron said.
After interviewing witnesses, deputies determined that Olson and Baker were alone in the living room as Baker was leaving the house, Cameron said.
Neither man lived at the home, Cameron added.
Witnesses were in a nearby room when they heard a single “pop,” Cameron said. They came into the room and found Baker on the floor.
Olson was sitting in the room where the shot was fired with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun near him, Cameron said.
Witnesses told deputies they heard no arguing or talking between the two men immediately before the shot was fired, Cameron said.
Olson was arrested without incident and has not made any statements to law enforcement, Cameron said, adding that the 26-year-old appeared intoxicated when taken into custody.
Baker’s body is in the possession of the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which also serves as the coroner’s office, Cameron said.
Baker, whose parents live in Sequim, lived in Port Angeles with his brother and other roommates, Cameron said.
Deputies continued Thursday to search for evidence to help further explain what led to the shooting, Cameron said.
“We’re going to do everything we can do to get to the bottom of this,” he said.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
