The victim of a Jan. 11 shooting in Oak Harbor is now facing charges for allegedly dealing drugs and illegally possessing a firearm, according to court documents.
The shooting was the second time that 47-year-old Willie Lee Rainey was the victim of gunfire on Whidbey Island, according to police.
During the investigation, police discovered tens of thousands of dollars worth of suspected fentanyl and cocaine, as well as $79,000 in cash, inside a backpack that allegedly belongs to Rainey.
Prosecutors charged Rainey in Island County Superior Court May 15 with possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree.
Rainey is accused of committing the drug charges while possessing a firearm, which could add an automatic six years to a sentence. In all, he could face up to 11 years in prison under the standard sentencing range if convicted of the charges against him.
The police report written by Detective Sgt. Jennifer Gravel with the Oak Harbor Police Department describes a strange and chaotic series of events.
The report explains that Rainey and 38-year-old Ronald S. Cabell Jr. had a long-standing disagreement related to the first time Rainey was shot. In that case, Rainey was shot in the chest outside an Oak Harbor sports bar during an argument in 2016.
The Jan. 11 shooting occurred just before 4 p.m. outside an apartment building on Northeast Barron Drive. Rainey and Cabell got into an altercation in the parking lot.
Cabell later claimed self-defense; he told police that Rainey punched him and then appeared to be going for a gun, so he shot him, the report states.
In an interview with police, Rainey admitted that he punched Cabell, saying he was upset that Cabell had been preying on women, the report states. He said Cabell punched him back and then shot him; Rainey denied having a gun or threatening to kill Cabell, the report states.
Although he was seriously injured, Rainey allegedly took an AR-15 gun from his car and went into the apartment. A woman then came out with the gun, got into an SUV and tried to drive away, the report states.
Cabell, however, didn’t want her to “get rid” of the gun before police arrived, so he tried to stop her, the report states. He jumped onto the SUV and yelled at her to stop while Rainey was simultaneously screaming at her to drive away, the report states.
Witnesses took video of the SUV traveling in the parking lot with Cabell hanging from the door, the report states.
Police arrested Cabell while Rainey was transported to Providence Medical Center in Everett. He was on a ventilator at the hospital, but he recovered and was released a couple of weeks later, according to police.
At the scene, police searched the SUV, which belonged to Rainey, and found a bloody AR-15 rifle wrapped in a blanket and a backpack containing money and drugs, Gravel wrote.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the backpack. They found more than three pounds of blue pills containing suspected fentanyl, a brick and baggies of suspected cocaine that weighed nearly 3.5 pounds, a jar of marijuana and a large amount of cash in a plastic bag, the report states.
Cabell was arrested at the scene. Prosecutors charged him on Jan. 17 with assault in the second degree, with a firearms enhancement.
Cabell is scheduled to go on trial July 16. He is claiming self-defense and his attorney filed a notice of intent to seek reimbursement; under state law, a defendant found not guilty by reason of self-defense is supposed to be reimbursed for expenses related to the legal case.
