Wounded State Patrol trooper helps identify shooting suspect

A day after he was shot in the head, State Patrol Trooper Scott Johnson helped his colleagues identify the suspected gunman from his hospital bed, according to newly released court documents.

Martin A. Jones of Seaview, who made his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon, is being held on investigation of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault for allegedly shooting Johnson and firing at a tow-truck driver in Long Beach early Saturday.

Jones, 45, is being held on $5 million bail in the Pacific County Jail. Formal charges are expected to be filed this week.

According to the declaration of probable cause filed Tuesday morning in Pacific County Superior Court, Jones is accused of shooting Johnson soon after another trooper arrested Jones' wife on suspicion of drunken driving.

At 12:16 a.m. Saturday, Trooper Jesse Greene pulled over a van that he'd clocked at 46 mph in a 35 mph zone near the intersection of Pacific Avenue South and 13th Street in Long Beach, according to the probable-cause statement. The driver, 45, was arrested after failing a field sobriety test, and Greene took her to the Long Beach Police Department for a breath test.

The woman was the only person in the van.

Johnson arrived at the scene around 12:20 a.m. to help Greene and stayed behind while the van was being impounded, the statement says. A man walked up to the scene from the north, questioned the tow-truck driver, walked south and spoke briefly with Johnson, according to the statement.

The man then continued walking "south past the scene," according to the probable-cause statement.

A short time later, while Johnson was making an inventory of items inside the van, the tow-truck driver, George Hill, noticed the same man walk up behind Johnson, the statement says. Hill didn't see a weapon, but saw Johnson turn his head away from the man, followed by the sound of a gunshot, the statement says.

"After the shot, the shooter stepped back and made some kind of chuckling sound," the statement says.

Hill ran after the gunman, but hid behind his tow truck when the gunman turned and fired at him, according to the statement.

Hill then ran to Johnson, who told Hill he'd been shot in the back of the head. The gunman then returned, passing in front of Johnson, who fired two rounds at the man, the statement says.

A K-9 team led detectives to the Jones' house on 35th Place in Seaview, about a mile south of where Johnson was shot, according to the statement. Hill, the tow-truck driver, was driven to the residence, but told investigators Jones was not the man he'd seen shoot Johnson, the statement says.

Sometime later on Saturday, Hill worked with a sketch artist, but "was not satisfied with the completed drawing," the statement says.

On Sunday, Johnson — who had been too heavily medicated the day before to help investigators — also worked with a sketch artist while at the Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland.

"The second sketch was different from the first and looked much more like Jones than the first sketch," the statement says.

Sometime after the second sketch was completed, detectives showed Johnson a photo montage — and "without hesitation," Johnson identified Jones as the shooter.

Armed with this new information, detectives went looking for Jones. It's unclear from the probable- cause statement where they arrested him, but the statement notes that Jones' "suitcases were packed, indicating he was planning on leaving the area."

Johnson, a decorated 25-year law-enforcement veteran, was released Monday from Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland, where he was treated for a bullet wound to his head.

The shooting rocked a law-enforcement community in Washington already reeling from a spate of violence directed at them in recent months.

Nine law-enforcement officers have been shot since Halloween, and six of them have died. They include four Lakewood police officers killed Nov. 29 in the deadliest single attack on police in state history.

Seattle Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this report, which includes information from Times archives.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com