Chase suspect blames mental illness

A kidnapping suspect blamed a previously undiagnosed mental illness Wednesday for setting him off on an 18-hour crime spree that included four stolen cars, gunshots from a state trooper, two burglaries and a manhunt.

“I think I’m going crazy or something,” suspect Lance Karunaratne, 26, said in an interview at the Spokane County Jail when asked what prompted the spree.

Meanwhile, a judge set bail Wednesday at $500,000 because of “the seriousness of these charges, the lack of verified information, … reported transitory lifestyle and an uncertain mental health status.”

Karunaratne appeared before District Court Judge Gregory Tripp on the charges of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree robbery. Two other men, 18-year-old Christopher F. Olofson and 17-year-old Andrey Fedin have also been charged in connection with the same crime spree.

Karunaratne asked Tripp if he could pay the $500,000 bond in cash.

“How do you guys take payment? Can I have it wired? What’s the routing number I can have that money wired to?” Karunaratne asked.

In the jailhouse interview earlier, Karunaratne said he moved to Spokane from California a month ago. As for the motive for the crime spree, Karunarante said he believes he is either bipolar or suffers from schizophrenia.

But he also said he’s never before been diagnosed with either condition.

According to court records, investigators believe Karunaratne stole four vehicles, including one at knifepoint, and rammed a Washington State trooper’s vehicle nearly head-on and pushed it about 75 feet into a field.

In the jailhouse interview, Karunaratne admits driving the stolen 1994 Jeep Cherokee but claims he didn’t know it was a trooper in the unmarked police car.

“We had no way to know,” he said. “We thought they were, like, trying to ambush us the way they did it.”

Trooper Jeff Sevigney said Trooper Jim Hill had just investigated the roll-over crash of one of the stolen vehicles near U.S. Highway 195 and Stentz Road. After leaving that scene, Hill drove to the area of Excelsior Road and U.S. 195 where he spotted the stolen red Cherokee.

Hill was turning east to investigate when his car was struck by the Cherokee and pushed into a field. Sevigney said Hill fired shots from his gun as the three suspects approached his vehicle.

But Karunaratne said they saw the copper-colored car block the road. The driver then started firing shots at them.

“They didn’t show their badges. They just started shooting. So we drove at them,” Karunaratne said. “If we knew they were cops, we would have got out and ran.”

But in his statement to police, co-suspect Olofson contradicted Karunaratne’s account. Olofson told a sheriff’s detective that they all saw the car turn onto Excelsior.

“Lance believed the vehicle was a police vehicle,” Detective W. Francis wrote in court records. “Olofson stated at this point Lance, who was driving the red Jeep, turned on the lights, accelerated and rammed into the police vehicle.”

Olofson said he ran away after the crash and that he heard several pops that he believed were gunshots.

Karunaratne said Hill’s shots almost hit him and his friends, whom he met just a few days earlier.

“He shot at least a whole clip. He was just shooting. That’s why we ran,” Karunaratne said in the interview. Hill “would have killed somebody if he knew how to shoot straight.”

Sevigney said the shooting remains under investigation, as is every use of force by a WSP trooper. But he had no more details.

Also on Wednesday, Judge Tripp ordered Fedin held on a $350,000 bond on the same kidnapping and robbery charges as Karunaratne.

Tripp then brought Karunaratne back to let him know that he would be released if authorities didn’t file paperwork in 72 hours.

“You’re kidding, right? In 72 hours, if nobody files, I’m out?” he asked. “I was going to pay a half million dollars to this system.”