Whatcom County man who shot deputies in 2022 convicted on two counts of attempted murder

A jury found Joel Berck Young, 63, of Maple Falls, guilty of two counts of attempted second-degree murder on Thursday after he shot two now-retired Whatcom County Sheriff’s deputies in the head while they were on duty on Feb. 10, 2022.

Young shot Deputies Ryan Rathbun and Jason Thompson with a shotgun while they were on duty responding to a neighborhood dispute in the Peaceful Valley neighborhood of Maple Falls.

Both suffered significant injuries and permanent damage from the shooting but returned to duty before retiring in the last year.

The court clerk read the verdict for a crowded courtroom Thursday, drawing emotional responses from the deputies and their families.

In a trial that lasted more than a week , Young’s public defense attorneys, Kurt Parrish and Starck Follis , argued that while it was indisputable that Young shot the deputies, he did not act with premeditation and intent.

The prosecution, led by Maggie Peach and Eric Richey , argued that not only did Young announce his intent to shoot the deputies, but that he followed through on his threats and expressed excitement about doing so after the fact.

Young’s jury trial began Monday, Sept. 9. After days of often emotional testimony, including a recounting by Deps. Rathbun and Thompson of their experiences and the actions they took the afternoon of the shooting about 2.5 years ago, the jury reached a verdict Thursday.

While the prosecution was aiming for a conviction of two counts of attempted first-degree murder , the jury ultimately returned a guilty verdict for the lesser crimes of two counts of attempted second-degree murder , meaning the jurors determined that Young had the intent to cause the death of the two deputies but that the crimes were not premeditated.

Young’s sentence was not immediately determined. A sentencing hearing is expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks.

The initial call

When Deputy Thompson was shot in the face on Feb. 10, 2022 in the Peaceful Valley neighborhood of Maple Falls, he didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. But the 13-year veteran deputy of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office steadied himself, and got ready to keep fighting.

Deputy Rathbunm, his partner and a fellow 12-year veteran of the department, ran to his aid. Rathbun returned fire, before he, too, was shot in the face. As a nearby neighbor stepped in and unloaded a handgun magazine in the shooter’s direction, Rathbun was able to pull Thompson, whom he’d worked closely with for multiple years, out of the line of fire.

In emotional testimony provided over two days last week, now-retired deputies Thompson and Rathbun recounted in painstaking detail for members of a jury what happened and the actions they took on that tense afternoon roughly 2.5 years ago after they initially responded to a neighborhood dispute in the 3000 block of Green Valley Drive, north of Kendall.

Berck’s public defense attorneys, Kurt Parrish and Starck Follis, argued that regardless of whether Young was correctly interpreting the situation, Young felt like he was under attack from his neighbors that day. While Berck’s defense team did not deny that Young shot Thompson and Rathbun, argued that he did not act with premeditation and intent.

The prosecution, led by Maggie Peach and Eric Richey, argued that not only did Young announce his intent to shoot the deputies, but that he followed through on his threats and expressed excitement about doing so after the fact.

At the time of the shooting, Thompson and Rathbun were working as the foothills neighborhood deputies for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. Rathbun had been in that position for roughly two years, while Thompson had been in the position for a little more than a month.

Following the shooting, Rathbun returned to duty in late December 2022, while Thompson returned to duty in early January 2023, The Bellingham Herald previously reported. Both suffered significant injuries and permanent damage from the shooting.

Rathbun retired in December 2023. He had been with the sheriff’s office since 2009. Thompson, who had been with the sheriff’s office since 2008, retired in May 2024, according to Deb Slater, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

Both were awarded a state Medal of Honor in May 2023 for their actions during the shooting.

The two deputies and one of their wives have since filed a civil lawsuit against Young. The lawsuit is on hold until Young’s criminal case resolves.

Arriving on scene

Shortly after 4:15 p.m. on Feb. 10, 2022, Deputy Rathbun was sent to the 3000 block of Green Valley Drive in Maple Falls for the report of a neighborhood dispute with shots fired.

While Rathbun was on his way, he was informed by dispatchers that the situation had escalated and roughly three or four additional people had called 911 to report that neighbors in the area were actively shooting at each other.

Rathbun said he tried to take in as much visually and aurally as he could as he got closer. When he arrived, the scene was “eerily quiet.” He could not hear any screaming or gunshots in the area, he said.

Instead, he found Ron DeBoer, standing in his driveway about halfway down the street. DeBoer had recently acquired the house next door to the east of Young’s after the owner died. DeBoer, who had previously been Rathbun’s realtor for his first condo, told Rathbun that he had been burning wet wood and construction debris in a firepit in the backyard, which sent smoke in the direction of Young’s house.

DeBoer told Rathbun a dispute between himself and Young had occurred over the smoke from the fire and that Young had fired a shotgun. Another neighbor, further southeast, had also fired at least one shot, but the situation had now calmed by the time Rathbun arrived, DeBoer told Rathbun.

Because of this, Rathbun advised dispatch that the other responding law enforcement officers could slow down, and that an armored vehicle was no longer needed, Rathbun told the jury last week.

A few moments later, now-retired Deputy Thompson arrived in his Chevrolet Tahoe, which he had nicknamed “the moving billboard” due to its size. Rathbun had radioed Thompson and told him to park on Green Valley Drive, as the situation turned out to be more calm than the deputies initially believed.

Thompson met Rathbun outside of DeBoer’s open garage, where the two exchanged information. Rathbun told Thompson someone from Young’s house had fired a shot from a shotgun after they became upset over the smoke from DeBoer’s backyard fire, and that neighbors further down the street became upset over the shotgun blast and had responded by grabbing their own firearms and firing at least one round either into the air or in Young’s direction, Rathbun and Thompson testified.

The two deputies devised a plan; Thompson would watch Young’s house to ensure no one came out armed, while Rathbun finished speaking with DeBoer and the other neighbors, later identified as Cody Deeter and Jesse Marshall.

Both deputies, who had known each other for more than a decade and described themselves as best friends, testified that they did not want to contact the person inside Young’s house, who was later identified as Young himself, if they did not have to. At that time, both deputies thought it may be possible to just write Young a ticket for unlawful discharge of a firearm. If they did have to knock on his door, they wanted to wait until at least four deputies were on scene for safety purposes, they said.

“We both were thinking if this guy, Mr. Young in the house behind us, has gone inside and been quiet and decided to de-escalate, we don’t even need to knock on his door … so we don’t have to force that contact on him,” Thompson testified Thursday, Sept. 12 in court. “So it’s kind of a de-escalation technique where we’ve got somebody who’s armed and maybe is not in the most rational of moods for whatever reason, if we don’t have to go kick the hornet’s nest, let’s not.”

While the deputies were having this conversation, they testified, Young opened his front door and yelled “Hey, you wanna shoot?”

Interactions with Young

The commotion of Young’s front door opening and his statements caught both Rathbun’s and Thompson’s attention. Rathbun said he told DeBoer to go inside his house, while Thompson said he drew his firearm and moved to behind a large tree in Young’s front yard.

The deputies responded to Young, identified themselves as law enforcement, and told Young to come outside unarmed and speak with them, they testified.

Young responded with expletives and slammed the door.

The deputies decided to wait until additional officers arrived before they would attempt to interact with Young again, they said. This meant waiting for officers who could secure and surround the house, have less-lethal weapons such as pepper ball guns and Tasers, as well as provide cover for an officer, such as Thompson, to start crisis negotiations, the deputies told the jury.

“So there were plenty of people coming to handle it safely with best practices, but we just needed time for them to get there,” Thompson said.

Thompson knelt down near the corner of DeBoer’s garage, where he was able to have some cover, but could also partially see Young’s front door, while Rathbun continued his investigation and began speaking with the neighbors, Deeter and Marshall.

Thompson said he thought it was possible that Young initially didn’t know they were law enforcement, but after Young yelled expletives at them, Thompson said he realized that Young was likely either angry with law enforcement’s presence or still upset over the situation with his neighbors, and needed time before he was ready to talk.

When Young’s door opened a second time, Thompson said he could see the barrel of a shotgun, which appeared to be aimed across the street, but said he could not see Young.

Thompson again yelled at Young to drop the weapon and identified himself as a sheriff’s deputy.

Young responded by telling them he didn’t care if they were the sheriff, and that he would “blow your head off,” before telling the deputies to leave.

Young then shouted expletives about telling other people in the neighborhood to “put the … smoke down,” before semi-singing “take a ride on the wild side. Hit it” and closing the door. Young’s statements were captured on body worn camera footage and cellphone footage taken by a nearby neighbor. Both were played for the jury.

In the moment, Thompson said he interpreted “smoke” to mean the smoke from the fire in DeBoer’s backyard, but told the jury that he now believes it’s possible Young was using it as slang for the neighbor’s firearms.

Thompson notified dispatch that he and Rathbun were still on scene, that there was an armed person who was possibly impaired, either by intoxicants or mental illness or both, and that both deputies were waiting for additional officers to arrive.

When asked why more officers weren’t called in at that moment, Thompson told the court “We already had the cavalry coming. Everybody was coming. There was nobody else to call.”

Around 4:40 p.m., Young’s door opened for a third time. All Thompson said he could see was the barrel of a shotgun and Young’s shoes.

Young threatened the deputies, and again yelled expletives at them when Thompson told him to put the gun down and come outside. It’s at this point that Rathbun came over to where Thompson was, near the corner of DeBoer’s garage, and told Thompson that they’d established probable cause for two counts of felony harassment for Young allegedly pointing a firearm at his neighbors.

“Once he had threatened to blow my head off, I knew that I had probable cause to arrest him for a felony, but the sad reality of law enforcement is regardless of what happens to us, it’s hard for people to see us as victims sometimes,” Thompson testified. “People say ‘Look, that’s the job you got hired for and you’re supposed to stand there and get threatened’ and reality is that’s not the case, but that can seep in after a long time. Literally when Ryan told me that we had probable cause with the citizens as victims, I felt like that was stronger probable cause.”

Around 4:42 p.m., Young’s door opened for a fourth and final time. This time, Thompson could not see Young’s feet or the barrel of his shotgun.

Young asked “what do you want now” before again yelling expletives at the deputies.

“I just started yelling ‘Drop the gun’ even though I couldn’t see him. He had the gun every other time he opened the door — and then he shot me,” Thompson told the jury.

Thompson was shot in the left side of his head. The force of the shot knocked him down to the ground and onto his back.

Thompson said he was dazed, but that it only took a few seconds before he radioed dispatch to tell them he had been shot.

Thompson eventually got onto his back, pointed his body in the direction he thought Young may be coming from, and said he remembered telling himself not to shoot his feet, which were in front of him.

Thompson told the jury that he began to lose vision in his left eye, and heard multiple gunshots, before Rathbun drug him into DeBoer’s open garage.

Rathbun shot

Rathbun, who had walked back over to update the neighbors on how law enforcement planned to handle the situation, said he heard Young and Thompson yelling at one another after Young opened his door for the fourth time.

Rathbun said he started moving toward Thompson and the corner of DeBoer’s garage, but as he approached, he heard and saw Thompson get shot and scream in pain.

“As I’m running up, trying to process all this and what happened, I’m looking over to see whether Deputy Thompson is dead, unconscious, fully with it … As I’m beginning to approach, I’m trying to decide what my next actions are going to be in those milliseconds,” Rathbun told the jury on Sept. 11.

Rathbun said he saw Thompson was conscious, moving and still armed. Rathbun said he asked Thompson if he was OK, before he raised his rifle and moved away from the corner of DeBoer’s garage to “address the threat that just shot my partner.”

Rathbun told the jury he believed Young would be outside of his house, armed, and coming to kill Thompson.

Rathbun was shot six seconds later.

“As I approached, I was looking through my optic (of his service rifle), and I believed I was going to see that armed individual. When I didn’t, I fired three rounds of directed fire specifically into the door to get the suspect to move and flee or go to ground and not continue shooting. So I fired three rounds,” Rathbun testified. “As I fired the third, I was struck in the face with a shotgun blast of birdshot. Which then I reflexively, because my finger was on the trigger, squeezed it and fired a fourth round into the yard.”

Around the same time, Deeter, one of the neighbors, emptied his handgun magazine in Young’s direction.

Nearby neighbors also came into DeBoer’s garage to help provide first aid to the deputies.

Rathbun said getting shot initially felt like someone hit him across the side of the head with a 2-by-4, before he felt the “burning, searing pain” from the birdshot pellets that entered his body.

It was later determined that the deputies had been shot with birdshot, which contained roughly 380 pellets in each shot, members of the jury were told through other law enforcement personnel’s testimony.

Others arrive

Deputy Benjamin Wood arrived around 4:44 p.m., and learned both Rathbun and Thompson had been shot in the head and needed medical attention.

Wood testified later that he could not hear the radio dispatch provided by deputies Thompson and Rathbun, but said he knew something was wrong based on the sound of Rathbun’s voice. Wood said he didn’t know either deputy had been shot until he arrived.

Rathbun and Thompson then evacuated themselves, briefly stopping halfway on their way to Thompson’s patrol SUV to determine who would drive. While both had each lost vision in one of their eyes, they ultimately decided Thompson would drive because he “is the better driver,” they both testified.

The deputies then met emergency medical personnel nearby, where they received first aid and were later taken to PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s hospital for treatment of their gunshot wounds.

Young was arrested roughly one hour and 15 minutes later without further incident.

Both deputies testified that they had never interacted with Young before, had not previously responded to his home and did not know him prior to this incident.

Lingering injuries

Rathbun still has approximately 13 pellets lodged in his head, face and body.

Two are in his forehead, two are near his jaw, six are in his sinuses, and one each are in his left knuckle and wrist. One additional pellet has also traveled behind his sinuses and below the base of his skull, and is approximately four inches deep. The others are closer to the surface, but “just below” the deep layer of his skin, he said.

Rathbun’s doctor advised him to not remove the pellets in his sinuses or the one at the base of his skull, due to the risk of complications or possible infection.

Thompson was hit by approximately 16 pellets when he was shot, including one that went behind his left eye, causing permanent damage.

He still has roughly seven or eight pellets that are in a halo around his skull, in addition to the one that’s behind his eye.

Thompson said he initially wanted all of the pellets removed, but after he was told they could not remove the one behind his eye, he told his doctor to leave the rest.

Most of the vision in his left eye has returned, he said, but he has a circular bright spot across his vision almost all the time. His low-light vision in that eye is “like wearing sunglasses at night,” he told the jury.