Man Charged In Incident In Which Off-Duty Vancouver Officer Died

GRESHAM, OR — "One lord, one god."

Clark County deputies say that those are the words that Julio Segura kept repeating as they arrested him Saturday night in the home of Officer Donald Sahota.

Segura had not been in the home that long. It had been long enough to cause a chain of events that authorities said included Sahota's wife being injured when Segura broke into the home, Sahota being stabbed by Segura and, finally, a Clark County sheriff's deputy firing a gunshot that struck Sahota, who died at the scene.

Sahota was an off-duty officer with the Vancouver Police Department who previously served in the Gresham Police Department and the Port of Portland police. He was 52 years old. Besides his wife, he leaves behind two children.

On Monday, Segura made his first appearance in court.

The 20-year-old is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle, and attempt to elude. Bail was set at $5 million.

Court documents and officials give the following account of the evening's events:

Soon after 8 p.m. Saturday, Segura had gone to the Chevron station on the 9800 block of Northwest 117th Avenue in Vancouver. He pulled a gun on the clerk and stole several hundred dollars in cash.

As the clerk called 911, Segura fled in a Mercedes-Benz that he told investigators that he had stolen from a dealership. Segura then drove the silver Mercedes with no plates north on Interstate 205.

He later told deputies that his original plan was to flee to Seattle.

Segura exited in Battle Ground, and a deputy who had been following lost him.

Soon after, there were two 911 calls.

The first said that a man was walking in Battle Ground, telling people that he had crashed his car and needed help.

The second call, almost immediately after, came from Sahota's wife. She told the dispatcher that her husband was an off-duty police officer and that he was holding someone at gunpoint.

As Segura had been looking for help, he knocked on the door of the Sahotas' home. When the officer's wife answered the door, Segura shoved his way in, knocking her down.

What she did not know while talking to the dispatcher was that while her husband had grabbed his gun, the two were struggling outside on the front lawn.

Segura pulled a knife and stabbed Sahota three times in the abdomen. During the fight, Sahota lost his gun. Segura heard police sirens and fled back into the house. He later told investigators that Sahota told him that he was a police officer. He also said that he thought that when he stabbed the officer, he thought that he had killed him.

He hadn't.

Despite the stab wounds, Sahota struggled to his feet, grabbed his gun and started to move back into the house.

As he walked onto the porch, deputies from the Clark County Sheriff's Office pulled up.

One deputy, rifle in hand, saw a man with a gun moving to the house and fired several times, striking him. He died on the porch.

Still unsure of what was going on, deputies rushed in and discovered Segura hiding, repeating, "one lord, one god."

The deputies figured out that Sahota had been the homeowner and Segura the suspect from the Chevron robbery.

Officials say that they are waiting for the medical to determine the official cause of death. If the medical examiner pins it on the stab wounds, Segura could find the charge against him upgraded to murder from attempted murder.

Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnery-Olga ordered all flags be flown at half-staff.