Swordplay lands Camano man in jail

A 26-year-old man was charged in a sword attack on Camano Island last week. Prosecutors charged Joshuwa Harcrow in Island County Superior Court Jan. 5 with three counts of assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon and one count of malicious mischief in the second degree.

A 26-year-old man was charged in a sword attack on Camano Island last week.

Prosecutors charged Joshuwa Harcrow in Island County Superior Court Jan. 5 with three counts of assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon and one count of malicious mischief in the second degree.

According to a police report, Harcrow and a friend went to a party at a Camano Island home, where he started swinging a short sword and lunging at people with the weapon.

Harcrow first called the home and warned that he was coming to “shoot the place up,” but then surprised people by arriving armed with a two-foot sword and a survival knife, the deputy wrote. While Harcrow swung the sword, the other man took the knife from Harcrow’s belt and began stabbing a tree in the yard in an apparent attempt to intimidate folks.

A large group of people were surrounding Harcrow and trying to disarm him when the deputy arrived. Harcrow dropped the sword and was arrested, but the other man ran away just before law enforcement arrived.

Harcrow told a deputy that he was angry with the resident of the home because he refused to trade marijuana for a couple of Klonopin pills. He claimed he brought the weapon on self defense, but was attacked by partygoers.

On the way to the Island County jail, Harcrow beat his head repeatedly against the divider in the deputy’s car and spit blood all over, forcing the deputy to remove the car from service for “bio-hazard decontamination,” court documents indicate.

In convicted of the charges, Harcrow could face more than two years in prison under the standard sentencing range.