PORT ANGELES – We have additional details on the arrest of a Port Angeles woman who admitted to firing multiple shots from her home with .38 caliber handgun.
No one was hurt during the incident which began just after 4:00pm Tuesday when a resident in the 200 block of W. Fifth Street in Port Angeles called 911 to report that he could hear his neighbor, 49-year-old Jacqueline O’Steen, yelling for help inside her home.
One of the first responding officers reports that when he got there, he had impression that bullets coming from O’Steen’s house were fired in his direction and he took cover behind another house. Two neighbors later said they thought bullets flew through their properties.
Deputy Police Chief Jason Viada called in an update Wednesday afternoon.
“One of the interesting things that happened is that one of the responding officers had the perception, briefly, that he was being shot at as he was approaching the house although, what we understand now, is that all the rounds appear to have gone into the ceiling of the home, although, in the very early moments of the incident, that’s something that we didn’t know then.”
As officers took cover and waited for backup, police report O’Steen left the house through the front door and got into a car that stopped for her. When that car stopped down the street, O’Steen got out and was met by an officer who placed her in handcuffs.
That officer reports that O’Steen said she was shooting at the people in her ceiling because she feared for her life. Officers later found a Ruger .38 caliber handgun on O’Steen’s bed.
She was arrested and booked into jail for Reckless Endangerment and Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm on $10,000 bail. O’Steen is on a 72-hour hold while the Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office reviews the case for a charging decision.