SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — A 55-year-old Skagit County woman is expected to face second-degree murder charges in connection with the fatal shooting of another woman during an altercation over a political sign, according to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman who died was identified as 32-year-old Kamran Cohee.
Undersheriff Chad Clark told KING 5 News that getting a call over a political sign is not unusual.
“They come and go every election year. We get those kinds of calls, but not to this extent, to where there’s gunfire and somebody’s dead,” he said.
He said it happened just before 5:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
The man who owns a home on the 22000 block of Mount Vernon Big Lake Road saw something unusual, what looked like somebody messing with his mailboxes, Clark said.
“The 58-year-old male who owns the residence goes out there to find out what’s going on, got into a confrontation with the driver of the suspect vehicle – ended up being a fight over the political sign that the male in the vehicle was trying to steal,” Clark said.
According to court documents, the men both told deputies they got into a physical fight. The homeowner said he was chased back to the house, but the driver said he punched the homeowner through the open window of their truck.
Cohee was with the driver and got out of the car. Clark said the homeowner’s wife came out with a gun.
”The 55-year-old wife came out of the house, fired several rounds and the female that got out of the truck, out of that vehicle that was there, was struck and killed," Clark said.
The wife was arrested in connection with second-degree murder and could be charged Wednesday morning. The husband faces fourth-degree assault.
Clark said the investigation is ongoing. It’s not yet clear whether the man driving the vehicle will also be charged for stealing the sign.
Clark won’t say what kind of sign the fight was over and the court documents did not specify, but a neighbor told KING 5 it was a Loren Culp sign. Culp lost a bid to defeat Gov. Jay Inslee back in November.