In the warm evening of July 5, 2015, a dispute in Auburn, Washington's Les Gove Park tragically cut short the life of 31-year-old Chaz Schmitz, a White Caucasian male. Schmitz, along with a 29-year-old woman named Sara Arthur, was at the park when an argument erupted with another man. The verbal altercation quickly escalated to a fatal confrontation.
The man they were arguing with, identified as Charles C. Petrich, a 39-year-old transient, retrieved a.
22 caliber rifle from his white Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck. In a sudden act of violence, Petrich shot Schmitz in the chest and Arthur at the base of her skull. Chaz Schmitz died at the scene from his injuries, while Sara Arthur was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she succumbed to her wounds the following day. A witness to the shocking event described the shooter as appearing nonchalant in the moments after the shooting, scratching himself and pulling up his socks.
Petrich fled the scene in his truck but was located and arrested by an Auburn police officer without incident the following night at a local 7-Eleven. According to police, Petrich, a convicted felon, admitted to the shootings. He reportedly told investigators that he shot Schmitz first and then turned the gun on Arthur.
King County prosecutors subsequently charged Charles Petrich with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. His bail was set at $4 million. Authorities stated that Schmitz, Arthur, and Petrich were all homeless at the time and had come to Auburn to work at fireworks stands. They were also all reported to have ties to the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, area. Petrich pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him.
