Released body camera footage provides new insight into the Camas officer-involved shooting that took place on November 13. According to KPTV, Clark County deputies reported to a house in Camas after receiving multiple 911 calls about gunshots in the area. Once there, officers used a drone and identified 41-year-old Patrick Wetzel outside his home.
Wetzel, who subsequently entered a Kia SUV, was known to be the subject of a protection order violation and was potentially armed as deputies attempted to make contact, during which gunfire ensued, resulting in Wetzel being shot by an officer. Even though he was charged with multiple offenses ranging from assault to resisting arrest and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, and set for trial on April 21, 2025. He was hospitalized before being taken into custody as per the footage that was released by the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
Further information from a Columbian article established that before the deputy made that critical decision to shoot, a safety bulletin about Wetzel had circulated among the officers, indicating he had previously threatened to die by police. Deputy Forrest Gonzalez can be heard in the footage assessing the threat and announcing his intent to fire, saying, "I'm going to take a shot on this guy if he’s pointing (a gun) at us," followed by, "shot away," before discharging his weapon.
The released video summary also included a contentious detail, which showed that the view of Wetzel at the time Gonzalez fired was partially obscured by a water droplet on the armored vehicle's windshield, a fact that raised crucial questions about the visibility of the alleged threat at the moment the shots were fired, although the suspect could be heard yelling for the police to get off his property and officers reported Wetzel had a gun, the gun itself was later found on the floorboard of his car, according to officers attending to Wetzel's gunshot wounds immediately after the shooting as shown in the footage from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Comprehensive coverage from KOIN additionally offered timing details that before the shooting, sheriff's deputies responded to the area near the 2300 block of Northeast Everett Street after numerous reports of gunfire, using a drone to spot Wetzel and learning he was potentially armed and barred from being at the house by a no-contact order, which led up to the tense moments that resulted in Wetzel pointing a gun at deputies and eliciting the reactionary gunfire from Deputy Gonzalez which resulted in Wetzel being hit in the neck.
