VANCOUVER, Wash. — A man who was shot and killed by a Vancouver police officer near the waterfront on June 8 had a modified cap gun, according to the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
Vancouver police previously said the man, 43-year-old Vadim Sashchenko, had pointed what appeared to be a gun at an officer and his patrol vehicle before the officer shot and killed him.
On June 8, Vancouver police responded to a report of a man, later identified as Sashchenko, with a German Shepherd that had bitten at least one person. Vancouver police had also said Sashchenko was described as having a firearm.
Two Vancouver police officers, Brandon Riedel and Stuart Drynan, found Sashchenko and the dog near Columbia Avenue and Columbia Way. Vancouver police released dash camera video taken from inside Riedel's vehicle, showing Sashchenko hold up what appears to be a gun, and he points it at Riedel and his vehicle. Officer Riedel fires his gun, and four shots can be heard in the video as Sashchenko tosses the object into the street and lands on the ground. Sashchenko died at the scene.
Investigators found the object Sashchenko was holding at the scene and determined it was a modified cap gun, the sheriff's office said on Friday. The cap gun is sold with an orange tip that can be broken off, and there was "no orange tip on the replica used in this incident," the sheriff's office said in a news release. Deputies added that it appears the grips on the sides of the replica firearm came off during the incident.
The Southwest Washington Independent Investigative Response Team, led by the Clark County Sheriff's Office, is investigating the deadly police shooting.
