History seemed to be repeating itself at the “Friendship Fence” in Chehalis this weekend, as someone splattered black paint across the rainbow-painted LGBTQ+ advocate site just after midnight on Sunday.
The fence was last vandalized along with three other LGBTQ+-associated sites in June 2023.
“I’m happy to report that we were able to completely clean off the black paint before it could dry,” Chehalis resident Jacky Vance posted to Facebook early Sunday morning. “I’m even happier to report that one of our neighbors saw it happening, took the initiative to follow them and call the cops, who caught them in Centralia.”
The Chehalis Police Department received a call at 12:08 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, from a neighbor reporting three subjects “wearing all black and ski masks” were spray painting the Friendship Fence in the 600 block of Northwest Pennsylvania Avenue.
“I was coming home and I pulled up to the stop sign on Pennsylvania, and then my headlights were striking the fence,” the neighbor, Norman Lynn, recalled to a Chronicle reporter on Monday.
Lynn turned on his high beams to let three suspects know he was there, took out his phone to call 911, then pulled over in front of the house.
“I yelled at them, and then they picked up a bunch of stuff they had been using, and they ran around into the alley behind the house,” Lynn said.
Lynn pulled his van around to follow them and saw them “hiding” behind the house.
“There’s a little alcove and they were just standing there against the fence. And we looked at each other for a little bit,” he said.
The suspects then reportedly fled on foot onto Northwest Quincy Place, got into a dark-colored station wagon and began to flee the area.
Lynn, who had been keeping an eye on the suspects from his van, decided to keep following them as they drove away.
“I wanted to get their license plate number,” he said.
As an employee at Green Hill School, Lynn said he has seen “a lot of behavior” like that shown by the suspects.
“It just irritates me that people spread hate. I love my neighborhood and I just want to be safe,” Lynn said.
The suspects drove through the neighborhood at a high rate of speed going toward Interstate 5, Lynn reported. They ultimately ran a red light at Louisiana Avenue and got onto northbound Interstate 5 heading into Centralia.
“I continued to follow them on I-5. And my van, the high speed is 90. I was pegging it,” Lynn said.
The suspects turned their vehicle’s lights off while they were on the freeway, Lynn said, “but I saw the brake lights when they were headed up to the ramp, so I pulled after them.”
The suspects, followed by Lynn, got off of I-5 at Exit 81 in Centralia and made several quick turns before getting onto Elm Street toward Cooks Hill.
“I was on the phone the whole time with 911,” Lynn said.
Officers with the Centralia Police Department were able to stop the suspects’ vehicle as they were trying to get onto southbound I-5 at 12:38 a.m. on Feb. 25, according to police call logs.
All three suspects were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail just after 1 a.m. on Feb. 25 for second-degree malicious mischief, according to jail records.
The driver was also issued an infraction for motor vehicle violations, according to the Centralia Police Department.
Three suspects, identified by the Chehalis Police Department as Frank John B. Bagley II, 40, of Burien; Matthew A. Clement, 33, of Centralia; and Gabriel R. Smith-Nilsen, 25, of Driggs, Idaho; were scheduled to have preliminary hearings in Lewis County Superior Court for second-degree malicious mischief charges at 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26.
Bagley, who goes by the alias “Chad WA,” is a known neo-Nazi organizer for the White Lives Matter campaign and a former member of the Patriot Front, a white supremacist and neo-fascist hate group, according to online watchdog group WA Nazi Watch.
Bagley is also allegedly connected to the theft of 75 Pride flags in Burien in 2022.
Clement, also known as “Jack WA,” is a known member of the Patriot Front who was allegedly connected to the October 2021 destruction of the “‘Respect & Love Olympia” mural in Olympia, according to Unicorn Riot. Two members of the Patriot Front ultimately faced misdemeanor charges for the vandalism.
The Chronicle was unable to find publicly available information online about Smith-Nilsen’s background as of Monday afternoon.
