February 23, 2023 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Arson: Sheriff ’5‘ negotia
continued from page
The Feb. 15 fire is still being
investigated, according to Cen-
tral Mason Fire & EMS Bat-
talion Chief KC Whitehouse.
CMFE received the call around
2:30 am. and was able to save
some of the building because,
firefighters got to the fire with-
in three minutes. I ’
“That’s fortunate there
were two people on the balcony,
and we were able to get there
quickly and get the rescue ini-
tiated and crews were able to
knock the fire down quickly,”
Whitehouse said.
The structure’s front, sid-
ing and roof were damaged, but
Whitehouse said that since it
was “an old, sturdy building,”
there’s a good chance it can be
repaired. He' said crews were
able to salvage a lot of the con-
tents for residents.
Two people were trapped
on a second-floor balcony when
crews arrived, but firefighters
went around the back and were
able to save both people. None
of the 22 men in the building
were harmed in the Wednesday
fire.
According to court docu-
ments, at 4:14 am. on Feb. 17,
MACECOM received several
calls abofit a two-story building
in Union that was on fire. All 24
men being housed in the build-
ing escaped uninjured.
The source of the fire was
suspicious and investigators
from the Fire Marshal’s Office
and the Bureau of Alcohol, To-
bacco, Firearms and Explosives
were summoned to investigate
the scene, according to the
court documents. Investigators
determined it was intentionally
set. Preliminary tests were pos-
itive for the presence of accel-
erants spread along the front of
the building.
Detectives checked Hoyle’s
background and confirmed a
felony warrant out of Clacka-
mas, Oregon, for larceny, ac-
cording to court documents.
Detectives found he was stay-
ing at the Shelton Inn on North
7th Street and West Railroad
Avenue.
The manager of the Shelton
Inn went and spoke with Hoyle
and confirmed he was in room
No. 50.
Law enforcement knocked
on the door and identified
themselves, according to court
papers. Hoyle yelled that he
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would not come out and was
heard fortifying the door by
drilling screws into the door I
and jamb,
A Mason County Sheriffs
Office negotiator called Hoyle,
who told the negotiator he had
a loaded 12-gauge shotgun in
the room and he would shoot
any officer who attempted to
take him into custody; accord-
ing to court documents. The
SWAT team arrived and the
hotel and Blondie’s restaurant
were evacuated before Hoyle
surrendered.
“We did a fantastic job,”
MCSO Chief Deputy of Opera-
tions Jason Dracobly told the
Journal. “We were able to get '
the individual in custody. Ev-
erything went well. A big thank
you to the fire department and
the City of Shelton for assisting
with it.” ‘
Detectives received a search
warrant and found a 12-gauge
flare gun loaded with 12-gauge
buckshot and additional rounds
in the room. '
According to court docu-
ments, Hoyle admitted using
a 55-gallon plastic garbage can
and filling it with 11 gallons of
gasoline that he purchased at
a gas station in Shelton in the
early morning. He then stole a
truck from downtown Shelton
and used the truck to go to the
Gethsemane Ministries build-
ing in Union, backed the truck
up to the front of the build-
ing and “utilized a contraption
he had fashioned from PVC
pipes, a metal ball valve, rub-
ber hoses, a metal bar and rope
to empty much of the contents
of the garbage can onto the
front porch of the lodge. Hoyle
claimed he then used a road
flare to ignite the gasoline prior
to- driving away.”
Hoyle claimed, according to
court documents, he dumped
the garbage can and remaining
contents on a Green Diamond
logging road between the build-
ing and downtown, which de-
tectives later found in the area.
Hoyle described.
“Obviously, he was trying to
kill people. There were 22 men
in the Pine Street house that he
burned out,” Hellenthal said.
“When we moved them out to
Union to the property out here,
' and tried to recover from the in-
town fire, he came out here and
burned this place.”
He said he doesn’t know why
Hoyle targeted Gethsemane
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tor helps en
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page 11
dstandoff at'motel
as
A multiunit housing structure owned and operated by Gethsemane Ministries
on Misty
Acres Road near Union was set on fire early Friday morning. Courtesy photo
Ministries. ‘
“The same person over
Christmas broke into one of the
houses here on camp and so we
had him arrested and removed
by the police,” Hellenthal said.
“And then he was released and
then he showed up .at the Pine
Street house a couple of weeks
ago and was threatening the
house leader and some of the
guys. Some of the guys held
him until police came and they
arrested him again. And then
they released him and within a
couple of weeks, he came back
and burned the place. (We)
don’t really understand why.
He really had no connection to
the ministry at all that we’re
aWare of.”
According to the court docu-
ments, Hoyle was a previous
tenant at Gethsemane Min-
istries and lived at the 220 E.
Misty Acres Lane building near
Union. When speaking with
MCSO detectives after being
arrested, according to court
documents, Hoyle admitted to
setting both fires and he did so
because he was angry at Geth-
semane Ministries because he
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believed they were taunting
him by hiding his ex-girlfriends.
Hellenthal said some of the
men displaced by the fires are
in the Super 8 Motel in Shelton
and a group of 15 people left
Tuesday for a mission trip to
Phoenix to participate in street
and food ministry. The group
will also work at spring train-
ing Major Eeague . Baseball
games and raise money for 40
days. -
“We’re looking for other al-
ternative housing right now,”
Hellenthal said. “So we need a
couple houses that we can rent
or as temporary housing. Our
facilities are insured so the in-
surance will cover the transi-
tional costs. That’s the plan.”
Hellenthal said people have
stepped up to support Geth-
semane Ministries. He said
people can help by praying for
Gethsemane Ministries, but
also by helping with resources
for housing, furnishings and
storage containers. He said he
believes it will take about a
year or more for Gethsemane
Ministries to fully recover from
the fires.
“We’re pretty adaptive at
overcoming things. We’re al-
ready up and~ running and
continuing our mission,” Hel-
‘ lenthal said. “Matter of fact,
we have a 40-by-40-foot tent
that we erected that we had
class in this morning. We have
propane heaters in there and
we do our life skills class or a
Bible study twice a day, once
in the morning, once at night
Monday through Friday. We
also have our church services
that we hold on the weekend.
We’re already up and running,
although it’s at kind of a crisis
mode.”
Hellenthal said Gethsemane
Ministries is hoping to turn
this into a positive.
“We’re very optimistic and
we’re believing for the best,”
Hellenthal said. “We’re believ-
ing that hopefully, this indi-
vidual will get the help that
he needs and whatever that is,
whatever the court works out
with him, but we just look at it I
as an opportunity to continue to
serve .God and to be a blessing
here in the community. That’s
been our goal since we started.”
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