Danger Zone Arjay Mobile Home Park Residents Fear Neighbor’s Gunfire

The cardboard sign in 8-year-old Richard Williams’s hands spoke volumes about months of frustration for residents of a small mobile home community in the Spokane Valley.

The blond-haired boy was toting a sign that read, “I have been shot at! Nobody cares.”

On Sunday, Richard was in the front seat of a car driven by his father, Leonard Williams, when their neighbor, Mark Topp, shot out the car’s right front tire, according to witnesses.

“I thought I was going to die,” Richard Williams said.

Just a couple of hours before Wednesday’s protest began, Topp, 20, was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment for the Sunday shooting incident. He was not taken into custody.

“If you or I were to do something like this, we’d be sitting downtown at the gray-bar hotel,” said Marcus Harader, who lives down the street from Topp.

Topp’s mother, Barbara Prokovich, said she and her son have been the victims of harassment by neighbors. Prokovich and Topp declined to comment when approached at their home. Prokovich did not respond to a request for an interview.

Neighbors deny harassing Prokovich or Topp.

Residents of the Arjay Mobile Home Park in Otis Orchards said Sunday’s shooting is just the latest in a series of incidents in which Topp has fired his guns around the mobile home park.

Lt. Doug Silver said the Sheriff’s Department has responded to four complaints of gunfire at Arjay, beginning in January, and each time has taken a gun away from Topp. Silver said deputies have confiscated a different gun every time, but usually it has been a rifle.

“Enough is enough,” said Kelli Hart, who lives across the street from Topp. “One of these kids is going to get shot and killed.”

Until Sunday night, Williams had heard a lot of talk from other residents of Arjay who said they feared Topp. But Williams, who lives across the street from Topp and Prokovich, said he had not had any problems with either one.

Williams told deputies that on Sunday his car was stuck on a railroad tie in the vacant lot next to Topp’s home, when Topp took aim with a handgun and shot the tire out.

“I just punched (the accelerator) to the floor and got out of there,” Williams said.

Those who gathered Wednesday for the protest at Arjay said although they were happy charges had been filed against Topp, they decided to carry out the protest because it took seven months of complaining before Topp was charged for shooting his gun.

Besides the Sheriff’s Department, residents called Community Mental Health, Eastern State Hospital and the prosecutor’s office seeking help.

“It’s coming out of our neighborhood now,” said J’mi Beeching on her march at the mobile home park. “I want other people to know.”

Reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor. If convicted, Topp could face up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.

“He can’t go on shooting,” Leonard Williams said. “He’s going to hurt somebody before they take him in.”

Beeching, who helped organize the protest, said that on several occasions residents were told by deputies that they could not arrest Topp because they were uncertain of his mental capacity.

However, Lt. John Simmons, who is head of crimes against people for the Sheriff’s Department, said mental capacity has nothing to do with not making an arrest and that residents must have misunderstood.

“I believe if there is grounds for an arrest then an arrest is made,” Simmons said.

An emergency services worker from Community Mental Health was also sent to talk with Topp and other residents of the mobile home park on Wednesday.

“We needed to intervene to defuse the situation and to work in cooperation with local law enforcement,” said Terrian Fredette, a spokesperson from Community Mental Health.

Although Topp’s guns have been confiscated several times by deputies, they were returned to his mother in a matter of days, according to residents.

Simmons said taking guns for safe keeping is a common way to defuse incidents that involve weapons when deputies lack the evidence to make an arrest. Once a weapon is taken, Simmons said, the owner must then prove to the Sheriff’s Department they are fit to handle the gun again.

“Oftentimes we will take weapons for safekeeping and people can come back and get them once the situation is cleared up,” Simmons said.

Residents said taking Topp’s weapons was pointless because in each case, Prokovich was able to get Topp’s weapons back for him.

“First (the shooting) was out in the open,” Hart said. “Now it’s got to the point of shooting at somebody in a car. What’s next?

“Is this next?” Hart wondered pointing to her infant daughter.

A dozen or so children used to play among the two rows of mobile homes, but neighbors said the children don’t run as freely through the street.

“I know how kids are but they’re scared to death and don’t bother (Topp and Prokovich),” said Dorothy McCulley, who lives next door to Topp and Prokovich.

Heather Stallwood, who at 15 is one of the oldest of the neighborhood children, is afraid to walk home by herself. “I’m scared he’s going to shoot me,” she said. “I don’t trust them at all.”

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