By Laura McVicker
The Columbian
VANCOUVER, Wash. — A police officer testified Tuesday that he entered an east Vancouver home in July amid gunfire to rescue a hostage he thought was about to die.
Several gunshots went off toward Vancouver Officer John Key and three other SWAT officers.
“I thought I was going to die that day,” Key said. “I really thought I was going to die.”
Key was on the stand during the Clark County Superior Court trial of Matthew R. Hastings, a man with Vancouver connections who allegedly opened fire on four SWAT officers, seriously injuring one of them, during a July 18, 2007, standoff.
Hastings, 30, is on trial for 11 counts, including four counts of first-degree attempted murder related to the SWAT officers.
The defense is arguing Hastings was mentally ill and couldn’t form intent to kill officers.
The prosecution on Tuesday continued to call witnesses, including three of the four officers who swarmed the home. Vancouver police Cpl. Chris LeBlanc, the officer injured by gunfire, is expected to testify today.
The defense is expected to call expert witnesses to testify to Hastings’ mental state.
On Tuesday, Key told jurors he and the other SWAT officers made a crisis entry into the home, 15604 S.E. 12th St., after they’d heard Hastings threaten to cut body parts off his hostage.
Hastings had made that threat to an officer over the phone.
Officers had initially responded to the home to arrest Hastings on several warrants.
Key said an officer used a police tool to smash a back sliding glass door and the four officers entered. Several shots went off. They thought the shots were coming from the master bedroom, so the group headed into the room. Once inside, more shots went off from the direction of the adjacent bathroom, Key said.
As two officers approached the bathroom and fired their guns, Key scrambled around the bedroom in search of the hostage. It was about that time that LeBlanc, also in the room, realized he had been shot, Key said.
“He said something like ‘I can’t breathe’ or ‘I’m having difficulty breathing,’ and then dropped to his knees,” Key said.
Key then alerted officers by radio that LeBlanc had been shot. LeBlanc was rushed to Southwest Washington Medical Center with serious injuries. He has since recovered and returned to duty.
Officers used an explosive and tear gas and captured Hastings.
The hostage, Shane Edward Runyon, wound up being fake, police said. Runyon was sentenced in October to one year in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree assault. Prosecutors say he aided Hastings by pretending to be a hostage.
The trial is expected to last two more weeks.
Copyright 2009 THe Columbian