National Park Service shooting search yields two guns on boat

Two guns were aboard a houseboat where National Park Service rangers shot and wounded a 43-year-old Kettle Falls Man, and shocked the owner with a stun gun and pepper spray, according to court documents filed Tuesday. New documents reveal details of a violent struggle that occurred before a single shot was fired and struck Casey Hartigen in the chest. A search of the 52-foot-long vessel, named “Strong Spirits,” yielded a Walther P22 handgun and an FN Herstel “firearm,” in addition to Taser components rangers said they used against Michael Sublie, 41, when he became unruly after rangers confronted him about a noise complaint on the shores of the Kettle Falls Campground site. Hartigen, a friend of Sublie’s, was attending a party on the houseboat with his 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, according to family members. Hartigen was released from Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center on Monday afternoon, according to family members. The single bullet fired by one of the two National Park Service rangers responding to a noise complaint, struck Hartigen in the chest. His father, Bob Hartigen, said Casey Hartigen’s 9-year-old son was standing near him when the ranger fired. The rangers have not been identified. Casey Hartigen has not been arrested but may face assault charges in connection with the encounter, documents suggest. Family members said Monday that Hartigen and Sublie had not been armed when contacted by Park Service rangers. Documents filed Tuesday do not specify where on the houseboat the guns were found, nor does it say what prompted the shooting. The Stevens County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol and Kettle Falls Police Department all responded to the shots fired call shortly after it was radioed in around 10:26 p.m. Saturday, according to court records.