Charging documents reveal details about fatal shooting last month near Bellingham encampment

Court documents detailing charges against two homicide suspects shed new light on the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Zachariah Janusiewicz, 30, in north Bellingham during the early morning hours of Monday, April 15.

Bellingham police arrested Coleen L. Clark, 35, and Gale R. Jefferson, 33, on Tuesday, May 7. Both are in custody at the Whatcom County Jail and have been charged with first-degree murder. An initial bail hearing was set for Wednesday afternoon in Superior Court.

Court documents accuse Clark and Jefferson of shooting Janusiewicz with a handgun. The documents describe Janusiewicz as an acquaintance of the suspects.

The initial call reporting the incident came in around 3 a.m. on April 15. Bellingham police responded to the 4300 block of Tull Road off Kellogg Road, where they found Janusiewicz in a cart that had been wheeled out of a nearby encampment, one of several in the wooded area near Walmart.

Janusiewicz had a gunshot wound to the chest, and officers provided what medical assistance they could, according to the documents. Janusiewicz was taken to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:43 a.m. The Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Janusiewicz’s death a homicide. He died from a perforating gunshot wound to the torso, according to the medical examiner’s office.

One of the callers who reported the shooting to 911 also reported a propane tank explosion around the same time. BPD located a tent fire using a drone. Officers discovered a group of three tents inside a “fortified encampment” that had suffered significant fire damage, according to the documents. Officers also discovered blood on the ground and a cellphone that was later determined to belong to Janusiewicz.

Investigators sought a search warrant, and a subsequent search revealed additional blood evidence in the area. Items belonging to Clark and Jefferson also were found inside the tents, authorities said. Those items include medical documents with Jefferson’s name, and a handwritten phone list with the header “Gayle’s Phone #’s.”

Using body cam footage from the night of the shooting, investigators identified a woman among the individuals who brought Janusiewicz out of the woods as Clark, who had been linked with Jefferson in a November robbery investigation in the same area, according to police.

Court documents state Janusiewicz had purchased $800 worth of narcotics just hours before his death. Investigators then sought a warrant to search two phones known to belong to Janusiewicz, including the one found in the woods. Authorities say records from those phones suggest Janusiewicz had purchased fentanyl and was trying to sell it to individuals, including Jefferson.

During the search of the three-tent camp, investigators also located items with a man’s name on them. Investigators located the man, and he told them he lived at the camp with Jefferson and one of his relatives.

The man said he was asleep the night of the shooting. He was awakened by a gunshot and screaming. He said before he fell asleep, Jefferson and Clark tied him up and assaulted him after accusing him of stealing several hundred dollars from them.

A second witness independently confirmed much of the man’s statement, including that Jefferson and Clark had been “violent and were targeting several people in the encampment and surrounding area,” documents state. He said Janusiewicz tried to flee the area on foot with Clark chasing him. The witness said Clark fell as she was running and a shot was fired from the gun. He said Clark and Jefferson then attacked Janusiewicz but backed off when they noticed he was bleeding.

The investigation concluded that Clark and Jefferson were present when Janusiewicz was shot, with Clark being the shooter and Jefferson being a witness and accomplice.