Updated at 12:06 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A Centralia man was arrested after he allegedly broke into a Bucoda home wearing a mask and armed with a handgun last night.
Police were called about 10:35 p.m. to the 100 block of Perkins Street North where a 34-year-old man said he was awakened by the intruder who ordered him to come with him, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.
The resident put on his shoes as though he was going to comply but then turned on the man and began punching him, according to the sheriff’s office. The two fought, the victim was pistol whipped and the intruder fired a single shot into the floor in between the victim’s feet before grabbing his cell phone and fleeing, according to Sgt. Ken Clark.
Clark says the victim recognized the man as the soon-to-be ex-husband of a female friend, as he had pulled the man’s mask off.
The sergeant called it a scary nightmare kind of scenario which the victim decided not to take meekly.
“The victim decided, you know, it’s not going to happen today,” he said.
Clark said it wasn’t clear where the intruder planned to take the man, he just kept demanding he leave with him.
Thomas Denegar, 26, was arrested a short time later in the Grand Mound area after he called to report he was the victim of an assault, according to Clark.
Denegar was booked into the Thurston County Jail for first-degree burglary, assault and robbery, according to the sheriff’s office.