Camano man accused of murder appears in court

The man was accused of shooting two people, killing one, at a Camano Island home on Feb. 28.

A man accused of shooting two people, killing one, at a Camano Island home Feb. 28 appeared in Island County Superior Court via video from the jail on Monday.

Judge Carolyn Cliff found probable cause existed to believe Dominic T. Wagstaff, 21, committed the crimes of murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the first degree. The potential charges are considered domestic-violence crimes.

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Eric Ohme said the sheriff’s office requested that Wagstaff be held on $500,000 bail. Cliff agreed.

According to Ohme, Wagstaff recently moved from Texas. Ohme noted that witnesses said Wagstaff has psychological problems; a family member told detectives that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

Wagstaff’s criminal history only included gross misdemeanors.

A report written by a detective with the Island County Sheriff’s Office describes a harrowing scene of gun violence.

The report states that a deputy responded to the report of a shooting at about 8:30 p.m. to find two people lying on the ground in blood who had been shot in the head.

The report states that 41-year-old Dean Wagstaff, the defendant’s father, was airlifted from the scene but died a short time later.

Brianna Taylor, a roommate and girlfriend of Wagstaff’s older brother, was taken to a hospital in Skagit County.

Wagstaff had barricaded himself in his bedroom, but a deputy forced his way in and arrested him.

Wagstaff’s older brother told detectives that Wagstaff goes through bouts of anger and had been drinking heavily at dinner at the home. The family members were usually able to de-escalate his behavior, but it didn’t work that time.

Wagstaff got into his father’s face and pulled out a gun from his waistband after his father pushed him back. Wagstaff racked the pistol and pointed it at his father’s face. His father said “that better be an Airsoft pistol” right before Wagstaff shot him in the head, the detective’s report states.

Wagstaff’s brother tackled him and the two fought on the floor over the gun. Wagstaff placed the gun to his brother’s head, but the older man was able to push it away just as it was fired, the detective wrote.

The brother told detectives he didn’t know when Taylor was shot, but it wasn’t intentional, the report indicates; Taylor had been standing behind Dean Wagstaff when he was shot, or she would have been hit when Wagstaff tried to shoot his brother.