Updated at 11:01 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 20-year-old Winlock resident is in custody for attempted murder after allegedly shooting his ex-girlfriend in the back near a park in Winlock on Saturday evening.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports the victim had been at a mutual friend’s home earlier and when she learned he was headed over, called a friend to pick her up near Winolequa Park.
The victim was scared of him as he had made threats of violence towards her in the recent past, so went into the woods near the park to wait, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said in a news release this morning.
Brown said the 20-year-old woman was struck in the back by a .22 caliber round while she was talking on her cell phone with the friend at about 6:30 p.m. The friend took her to Providence Centralia Hospital where she was treated and she has since been released, according to the sheriff’s office.
Chief Brown stated investigators discovered a 16-year-old Centralia boy accompanied the suspect to the park. He was located around midnight at a residence on Sears Road and booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, Brown said.
The suspect, was located yesterday afternoon behind his residence in the 200 block of Northwest Arden in Winlock. The sheriff’s office says he admitted to shooting the victim because of an ongoing dispute.
Joseph M. Lowery was booked into the Lewis County Jail for attempted first-degree murder.
The un-named teen, from Centralia, reportedly witnessed the incident, and allegedly had handed the gun to Lowery, so he was also arrested for attempted first-degree murder.
They are both tentatively scheduled to go before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon.