Deputy who mistakenly shot officer cleared in prior shooting

Associated Press

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A Washington state sheriff’s deputy who mistakenly shot and killed an off-duty police officer over the weekend had been involved in a prior fatal shooting.

Authorities identified the Clark County deputy as Jonathan Feller, who joined the sheriff’s office in 2018.

Feller shot and killed off-duty Vancouver police officer Donald Sahota, 52, on Saturday night, as Sahota was chasing a robbery suspect who happened to show up at Sahota’s house.

In October 2020, Feller was one of three Clark County deputies who fatally shot Kevin Peterson Jr., an armed, 21-year-old Black man, as he ran from a drug deal outside a Hazel Dell motel, the Columbian newspaper reported. The Pierce County prosecutor ruled that shooting justified.

Feller served as a law enforcement officer in South Dakota for several years before being hired by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team, which is investigating Sahota’s death. He has been placed on critical incident leave.

Sahota was off-duty at his home on Saturday night when a man started banging on his front door, saying he’d been in a car crash and needed help. Sahota’s wife called 911 and learned that the man matched the description of a suspect in a gas station robbery.

Authorities say that Sahota’s wife informed the dispatcher that her husband was an armed, off-duty officer who was going outside to detain the suspect.

The suspect began fighting with Sahota in the driveway and stabbed him repeatedly before breaking free and running into the house. Sahota chased after the suspect and was shot and killed on his front porch by Feller, who had just arrived.

The suspect, identified as Julio Cesar Segura, 20, is being held on $5 million bail for investigation of attempted first-degree murder, robbery and other charges.