A North Whidbey man is accused of shooting and killing a roommate he apparently blamed for a breakup with his girlfriend on Oct. 11, according to the Island County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim, 40-year-old William Wright, succumbed to his injuries at the scene of the shooting. The suspect, 38-year-old Bret J. Bartlett, allegedly shot Wright multiple times with an AR-15 rifle, according to a report by a detective with the sheriff’s office.
Bartlett made his preliminary appearance in Island County Superior Court on Oct. 12. Judge Christon Skinner found probable cause exists to believe Bartlett may have committed the crime of murder in the first degree and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree.
Skinner ordered Barlett to be held in jail in lieu of a $1 million bail bond.
Wright grew up in both Oak Harbor and Alaska and has family in the Whidbey area, according to the Island County Coroner’s office. He was not married and had no children.
Detective Ed Wallace said the group of four men and a woman were living in a large shop building with separate rooms on acreage on Cerullo Drive north of Oak Harbor. At about 2:23 p.m., deputies responded to 911 report of a shooting.
The deputies arrived to find Wright on the ground with gunshot wounds; two other men were restraining Bartlett on the ground, according to Wallace’s report on the shooting. The deputies attempted life-saving measures on Wright, but the injuries were too grave. Bartlett was taken into custody.
One of the men who lived at the home explained to deputies that Wright and Bartlett had gotten into a verbal argument the week prior over some remarks that Bartlett made to his girlfriend. Bartlett had upset his girlfriend and Wright intervened. Afterward, Bartlett got out a rifle and threatened Wright, saying he would shoot him “in the head and chest and not even think twice about it,” Wallace wrote.
Then on Oct. 11, the woman broke up with Bartlett. Wright, the woman and three men were outside talking. Wright left to go back inside the shop building. But as he was reaching for the door, it opened and Bartlett was in the doorway pointing the gun at Wright’s chest, the report states.
Wright called back to the group, warning them that Bartlett was pointing a gun at him. One of the other men rushed over and told Bartlett to lower the gun, but instead he shot Wright multiple times, the report states.
The other man grabbed the barrel of the gun and tried to wrestle it from Bartlett. But while the man was holding the barrel, Bartlett managed to fire more rounds into Wright as he was lying on the ground, the detective wrote. In all, Wright was shot four times, according to the coroner’s office.
The man was finally able to throw Bartlett to the ground. The two roommates wrestled the gun from him and held him on the ground until police arrived.
Wallace said investigators are waiting on test results to determine if drugs or alcohol may have played a role in the shooting.
The detective’s report states that Bartlett was convicted of seven felonies in Oregon in 2012, including possession of methamphetamine and multiple counts of burglary.
The case marks the second murder on North Whidbey in four days. On Oct. 7, 35-year-old Chanell L. Saddler was murdered in her Oak Harbor apartment in what police consider a domestic violence crime. Prosecutors charged her husband, 31-year-old Phadell D. Saddler, with murder in the second degree.
