It’s being reported that a second man is being charged with murder in the August 21st deaths of three people at home in Salkum. The Centralia Chronicle says that Ryan J. McCarthy will officially be charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of extortion for his role in the shooting deaths of David West, Sr., 52, David West, Jr., 16, and Tony Williams, 50. Witness testimony shows that McCarthy and John Booth, Jr., 31, of Onalaska were “ordered” to West’s home by Robert “Robbie” Russell, 46, in an effort to try and collect a debt. The incident went wrong when West came out of a bedroom with a shotgun. The 28 year-old McCarthy had only been out of prison for about a month, and was arrested in Redmond just 24 hours after the shooting. Booth was arrested several days later in Spokane. Russell hasn’t been charged in connection with the killings, but he’s being held on several other counts, including firearm assault and drug possession. Lewis County Prosecutors say that they haven’t determined yet if they’ll seek the death penalty in the case.
