Editor’s note: Story updated at 11:37 am on 8/17/26 to correct the suspect’s age.
BIRCH BAY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A Birch Bay man is in custody after police say he shot and wounded two people Monday night, including a 2-year-old child.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were sent to a reported shooting at a home in Birch Bay around 7:45 p.m. Aug. 10.
A witness told deputies he heard gunshots and saw his neighbor run out of the house carrying a baby. Deputies arrived to find the neighbor and their child at a nearby house, both with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The sheriff’s office says the 62-year-old suspect had been arguing earlier that day with the victim, who they knew, and later pointed a gun at them. The victim ran out of the home with their child while the man fired shots at them.
Deputies surrounded the man before he could flee and arrested him. They later seized a pistol from his vehicle and found a fired bullet inside the home that landed in the living room where two other residents had been sitting.
The victim and their child were taken to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.
The suspect was booked into the Whatcom County Jail Monday night on two counts of attempted murder, among other charges. He remains there without bail.
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