Suspect who shot at Stevens County deputy was apprehended trying to return to vehicle

On Sept. 27, as police searched for a Colville man suspected of shooting at a Stevens County deputy, his white Ford Taurus sat parked just north of law enforcement’s mobile command center.

It was that car that would eventually lead deputies to arrest 47-year-old Richard Hawley, who was wanted on accusations of attempted first-degree murder for firing at the deputy while he fled after ditching his girlfriend’s car. According to court documents, as deputies were clearing the scene and waiting for a tow truck to arrive and haul away the Ford, a man emerged, walked over to the driver’s side door and got into the vehicle.

“The male indicated he was Richard Hawley,” detectives wrote in a search warrant.

Hours earlier, the entire town of Colville was under high alert – businesses closed, school canceled and hospitals under restricted access – as law enforcement from Stevens and Spokane counties scoured the town for any sign of the suspected shooter.

It wasn’t until law enforcement received an anonymous tip indicating that the car near their command center belonged to Hawley that deputies got a lead, according to court documents. Prior to that tip, law enforcement had been operating off information that Hawley had access to a vehicle with California, not Washington, plates.

“I subsequently decided to request a tow to take possession of this Ford Taurus,” a deputy wrote in the search warrant. “As (a deputy) was sitting in his vehicle, he observed a male walking northbound on Walnut and the male crossed Birch. The male then walked over to the driver’s side door of the Ford Taurus and got into the vehicle.”

After his arrest, Hawley told deputies where he hid the firearm used in the shooting, records indicate. He also admitted to using meth about two hours before he was apprehended.

In a search warrant filed Wednesday in Spokane County, deputies requested access to search his girlfriend’s 2004 Chrysler and his Taurus.