By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES — The three-day search for a gun-wielding man that caused the closure of parts of Olympic National Park has ended with the arrest of 41-year-old Caleb Chapman of Port Angeles.
Chapman was booked into the Clallam County jail just after midnight Wednesday morning and turned over to federal custody around 7:20. He is being held in Tacoma. Charges are pending.
Chapman had been hiding in the area of the Deer Park campground since early Sunday morning after leaving a series of disturbing notes, talking about revolution, with an acquaintance. The notes were turned over to law enforcement.
Later Sunday Park Rangers discovered a fire had been lit in the Deer Park area, but it was extinguished, after it burned about 10,000 square feet. Rangers soon after found that several trees had been felled across the road at the campground.
Around that time they were contacted by Chapman’s girlfriend in a truck, who warned them that he was acting erratically and had been doing a lot of methamphetamine. She said he was also in possession of multiple weapons, including an AR-15 style rifle.
The Deer Park and Hurricane Ridge areas were evacuated and multiple agencies, federal, county and local police, worked together to locate Chapman over the next 2 days using multiple surveillance platforms. The effort was made more difficult by fog.
Chapman was located Tuesday and surrounded by law enforcement in a gradually closing circle. Chief Criminal Deputy Brian King described the process as “hairy”, given the presence of guns.
Negotiators eventually made verbal contact with Chapman and convinced him to turn on his cell phone. Crisis negotiators from the Port Angeles Police Department took over from there and were able to convince him to surrender without incident.
Chapman was found to be in possession of 9 guns.