PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has obtained arrest warrants for two individuals in an attempted murder and robbery case.
The warrants are for Nicholas Well, 30, and Rosario Lopez-Castro, 29, both of whom were at the Kitsap County Jail on Thursday.
Well was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail on investigation of possession of a stolen vehicle and reckless endangerment — domestic violence. Lopez-Castro was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail on the same charges.
Kitsap County Superior Court also has issued no-contact orders to protect the victim as well as the seven children of Well and Lopez-Castro.
Both Well and Lopez-Castro are scheduled to appear in Kitsap County Superior Court on Nov. 12.
The Clallam County warrants, for $750,000 each, are for attempted second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and motor vehicle theft, the Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release Thursday. Upon resolution of their pending charges in Kitsap County, they will be transported to Clallam County to face criminal charges, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Aggravating circumstances were considered in the case, including the use of a deadly weapon and an additional aggravator for committing the offense against a good Samaritan, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The case began Sunday night when the good Samaritan, Melvin Swagerty, picked up Well, Lopez-Castro and their seven children on U.S. Highway 101 at Deer Park Road after they were seen walking along the highway and appeared to be in need of help, the Sheriff’s Office said.
After driving east on U.S. Highway 101 and continuing to the 260 block of Carlsborg Road, witnesses reported an altercation inside the vehicle, Clallam County Undersheriff Lorraine Shore said.
Swagerty was reportedly stabbed in the neck, and witnesses said he came out of the vehicle and onto the ground, Shore said.
The driver of Swagerty’s vehicle, a Lexus RX300, then fled the scene with the seven children inside.
Swagerty was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he underwent surgery for his wound, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was discharged from Harborview on Wednesday night, hospital spokesperson Brian Donohue said.
Well and Lopez-Castro had been contacted by deputies twice earlier in the day on Sunday — once during a disturbance in Sequim and later when Well was arrested for reckless driving in Port Angeles, then released.
After the altercation, they allegedly drove Swagerty’s Lexus northbound on Carlsborg Road, and Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies alerted other agencies that it had been stolen.
Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies located the Lexus in Kitsap County at 4:57 a.m. Monday, parked in the middle of the road. Well was in the driver’s seat with a bloody knife in his pocket, and Lopez-Castro was in the passenger seat, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
A significant amount of blood was found in the driver’s seat area, the Sheriff’s Office added.
The children, who range in age from 6 months to 9 years old, were taken into protective custody by law enforcement and were in the care of Child Protective Services in Kitsap County, Shore said on Monday.
