Port Angeles – The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office on Monday released a new set of details on a violent carjacking that occurred Sunday in Carlsborg. We now know that the owner of that car, a 60-year-old Port Angeles man, was stabbed multiple times and thrown from the driver’s seat by one of the 2 arrested suspects while their 7 children were in the back seat.
At around 8:10pm Sunday, Clallam County deputies responded to a report of an assault on Carlsborg Road near the Fire Station. The reporting party said they saw a fight happening inside a vehicle that led to a man falling out of the driver’s side door before the vehicle fled northbound on Carlsborg Road.
Deputies arrived to find Port Angeles resident Melvin Swagerty suffering from multiple stab wounds to his back, chest, neck, and face. Investigators say Swagerty was unable to speak much, but told them he had been in a vehicle “full of kids.” While being transported by medics, Swagerty told responders he had offered a ride to a large family with several children near Deer Park on Highway 101 while he was delivering for DoorDash.
Swagerty was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where he underwent surgery for his wounds. A relative on gofundme.com says he is expected to go through a long recovery period.
Deputies later determined the same family had been the subject of a welfare check earlier that evening, when a caller reported a family with seven children stranded on Highway 101 near Deer Park in a red Dodge Durango.
Deputies identified the family as 30-year-old Nicholas Well and 29-year-old Rosario Lopez, who have seven children. The pair had been contacted twice earlier in the day — once during a disturbance in Sequim, and later when Well was arrested for reckless driving in Port Angeles before being released.
Based on the information, deputies believed Well, Lopez, and their children were inside Swagerty’s Blue Lexus. Deputies conducted an extensive search throughout the night across Sequim and Port Angeles but were unable to locate the vehicle.
At about 5:00am, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reported locating the Lexus on a county roadway. Deputies found the vehicle parked in the middle of the road with its lights off. Nicholas Well was found in the driver’s seat, Rosario Lopez in the front passenger seat, and the seven children in the back.
A significant amount of blood was found inside the driver’s seat area, and a bloody knife was recovered from Well’s pocket. Both Well and Lopez were arrested for possession of a stolen motor vehicle and reckless endangerment/domestic violence.
All seven children were taken into protective custody by law enforcement and referred to Child Protective Services.
The vehicle was impounded and booked into evidence by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation into the stabbing of Melvin Swagerty continues.