Lakewood Man Accused Of Dragging Suspected Thief With Truck

LAKEWOOD, WA — A Lakewood-area man has been arrested, charged with killing a suspected thief by shooting and then dragging the man with his car, according to several reports.

According to KIRO 7, just before 4 a.m. Saturday a witness called police to report a Ford F-150 dragging something through a parking lot at the intersection of Sharondale Street Southwest and Halcyon Road Southwest.

When police arrived, they searched a nearby field they found a dead 40-year-old man with several signs of trauma.

When police arrested a suspect — identified by multiple sources as 54-year-old Michael Campbell — he told officers he had been sleeping in his car when he woke up and saw someone trying to steal the catalytic converter from under the truck, according to court documents shared by KING 5.

The documents show Campbell admitting to police that he shot the suspected thief three times. At that point, according to Campbell, the man crawled out from under the car and tried to escape, but Campbell tied his hands over his head, hitched him to his F-150 and dragged him, still alive, into a nearby field. He then untied the man and left him in the field, where he later passed away.

In their report, detectives note that a significant amount of blood was left in and around the scene, and on the vehicle and that a "distinctive drag mark" could be traced from the lot to the field where the suspect was left.

Court documents say Campbell had lived in his F-150 for the past two years and had been occasionally paid by the nearby business to guard the property after hours. He also had prior felony convictions and was banned from owning a gun.

Campbell is charged with second degree murder and first degree kidnapping.