Onalaska man allegedly shot man who allegedly slashed his tires

By Owen Sexton / [email protected]

A Chehalis man has been charged with drive-by shooting and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly shot a man on Monday, August 12, whom he accused of slashing his tires after his arrest.

At around 6:04 a.m. Monday, officers from the Chehalis Police Department were dispatched to Southwest Sixth. Street after reports of gunshots in the area.

When officers arrived, witnesses claimed 39-year-old Michael Guy McCallum of Onalaska was driving a blue Subaru to a home in Chehalis when another man named James Hart allegedly arrived at the same home and began slashing the tires of McCallum's Subaru. This allegedly prompted McCallum to shoot Hart. Officers found a shell casing outside the home.

Another witness saw a “man with no legs exit his neighbor's house and shoot at a moving orange truck,” according to documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court. He then saw the man get into his Subaru to pursue the truck.

McCallum, a retired U.S. Army veteran, served in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

He lost his legs in late 2011 when he unknowingly knelt on a rooftop booby trap containing an explosive pressure plate during a firefight with his unit while deployed in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.

McCallum was previously featured in an article in The Chronicle in 2015 when he received a mortgage-free home in Onalaska that had been renovated and donated by Chase Bank through the Military Warriors Support Foundation.

The Military Warriors Support Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on helping wounded veterans and Gold Star families gain both home and vehicle ownership and other financial assistance. He lost both legs above the knee after the explosion in 2011. Although he sometimes uses prosthetic legs, McCallum usually gets around in a wheelchair due to severe nerve damage he suffered.

After the shooting on Monday morning, Detective Sergeant Warren Ayers of the Chehalis Police Department found McCallum's blue Subaru a short distance from where the shooting occurred near Penny Playground..

““Ayers noticed that the tires of the vehicle appeared to be flat and a man with no legs was standing outside the vehicle,” the probable cause documents state.

After Ayers arrested McCallum, he allegedly admitted to using drugs and said he couldn't remember if there was a gun in his car. After obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle, officers found a .380-caliber gun inside, as well as a small package containing what they believed to be methamphetamine, court documents state.

McCallum was questioned further and allegedly stated that he and Hart had an argument over money, after which Hart slashed his tires. He claimed he then fired “one shot” at Hart's truck as it drove away.

Although McCallum has no prior criminal record, prosecutors requested that his bail be set at $150,000 during his preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday, August 13. They also imposed conditions prohibiting McCallum from possessing firearms, taking non-prescribed narcotics and refraining from contact with the victim.

Citing McCallum's lack of previous convictions – he was only convicted once in 2006 – and there are no other charges against him, defense attorney Rachael Tiller requested that his bail be set at $50,000 on Tuesday.

Tiller added that McCallum, who was originally born in Tacoma, has friends and family in the area.

Nevertheless, Lewis County Superior Court Judge Joely Yeager said, “The allegations made here are incredibly troubling” and set bail at $150,000 under the requested conditions.

McCallum's arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, August 22.