Bail is set at $50,000 for a man accused of threatening to shoot two women at a Chehalis business on Tuesday.
The incident was reported from the parking lot of a store in the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue at 5:43 p.m. on Feb. 27.
The suspect, identified as James Robert Holder, 51, of Lacey, is accused of pulling up in a black Jeep Wrangler, stopping in front of two women in the store’s parking lot, rolling down the passenger window, displaying a firearm and saying “I am going to shoot you,” according to court documents.
The women reported the Jeep pulled away from them before circling back and repeating the threat, again displaying “a smaller black gun” and saying “I am going to shoot you,” according to court documents.
After the second threat, the Jeep reportedly drove off.
Both women told responding officers “they were concerned for their safety” and “indicated they had never seen the male before,” according to court documents.
Staff at the store associated with the parking lot were able to obtain security surveillance footage of the incident, including footage of the vehicle and its license plate number.
A search of the license plate revealed Holder was the vehicle’s registered owner, according to court documents.
An officer compared a previous booking photo of Holder to the suspect captured in surveillance footage and believed they were a match, according to court documents.
Holder was arrested the evening of Feb. 27 at his son’s Thurston County residence.
When asked if he knew why police were contacting him, Holder allegedly “indicated it was due to an incident at (the store),” according to court documents.
When questioned about the incident, Holder allegedly “explained that he was driving through the parking lot and had an interaction with what he described as a male teenager,” saying “this individual stuck his middle finger up at him,” prompting the two parties to yell obscenities back and forth at each other before Holder left the area.
Holder allegedly “admitted he owned firearms to include a handgun,” adding “he has a permit to carry the firearm but rarely takes it outside the home.”
Holden was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 8 p.m. on Feb. 27, according to jail records.
He was charged Wednesday, Feb. 28, with two counts each of second-degree assault and felony harassment, threat to kill.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 7.
