The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office plans to book three teens into juvenile detention for first-degree robbery and murder following the Wednesday night shooting death of a worker at a Toledo area Shell station.
The sheriff’s office was contacted at about 12:20 p.m. by a Florence, Oregon, law enforcement agency, which reported its belief the vehicle and suspects involved in the Toledo area death potentially matched an incident there.
“They further advised the vehicle and suspects involved in their incident had been located by authorities with the Sumner Police Department and were currently in custody,” the sheriff’s office reported. “Detectives were able to contact the Sumner Police Department and were able to confirm the vehicle, firearm and suspect information were consistent with the homicide investigation occurring in Lewis County. Detectives responded to Sumner, conducting additional investigation into the suspects and vehicle in question.”
The three individuals in custody are a 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, all from Redding, California.
While The Chronicle normally doesn’t identify juvenile suspects, their identities were widely released on social media posts by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon. They were named as Daniel Keough, Quinton Ramey and Taylor Lenihan.
Photos of the previous incident and two of the suspects in Florence were widely shared on social media after their arrests, with Lewis County residents piecing together the connection hours before it was announced by the sheriff’s office.
According to the sheriff’s office, all three teens will be booked into Lewis County Juvenile Detention for first-degree robbery and first-degree murder.
At about 8:49 p.m. Wednesday, Lewis County 911 received a call from a passerby indicating they saw two masked individuals running out of the store in the 100 block of Mulford Road. The caller also reported the two individuals left in a white, extended-cab Dodge pickup truck and said their actions appeared suspicious.
“Upon arrival at the scene, deputies discovered a worker of the business deceased with injuries consistent with having been shot by a firearm,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. “Detectives were summoned to the scene, and based on initial investigation it appears two suspects confronted the victim. A struggle over a firearm held by one of the suspects occurred, and the victim was shot. The fleeing suspect vehicle appears to be an extended cab white Dodge Dakota or similar model.”
The identity of the worker killed has not been released.
Detectives were continuing to process the scene Thursday morning and requested assistance from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab Response Team, according to a news release.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to contact the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286 or Lewis County Communications at 360-740-1105.
