Chewelah man recounts shooting

A Chewelah resident was dozing off on his couch when a man carrying a handgun pounded on his door about 3 a.m. Friday.

“A guy was yelling that he needed help,” said Mike Wiyrick during a phone interview Monday from his Chewelah home. “He told me there were three guys who were trying to break into his trailer and kill him.”

Wiyrick, 39, thought that when officers arrived, everyone would be safe. Instead his visitor ended up being shot to death.

Many questions remain unanswered by authorities, including whether the upset visitor, Donald L. Hobrecht, fired at the officers before he was killed. Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer has said that after law enforcement officers entered the home, Hobrecht, 47, didn’t respond to police commands, and multiple shots were fired.

Hobrecht died inside Wiyrick’s home at 2503 Flowery Trail Road about 3:30 a.m. Friday.

Wiyrick was still upset as he recounted the chain of events Monday.

He had met Hobrecht on Thursday afternoon. The man, who lived in Grand Coulee, told him he was staying in a fifth-wheel travel trailer across the road because he was working as a flagger on the Flowery Trail Road project.

When Hobrecht came to the door early Friday, “he was really scared,” Wiyrick said.

Hobrecht was armed with a semi-automatic handgun, Wiyrick said. As Hobrecht and Wiyrick talked through the window, Hobrecht was constantly looking over his shoulder.

Wiyrick was home with his wife, who had already gone to bed. His young son was in Spokane visiting Wiyrick’s father, retired Spokane County Undersheriff Dave Wiyrick.

Wiyrick unlocked the deadbolt and let Hobrecht in.

“He was really panicky,” Wiyrick said. “We went back to the bedroom to talk.”

Wiyrick, who runs a septic tank cleaning business, said he grabbed his rifle and ammunition for protection against the men supposedly after Hobrecht.

“He really freaked me out,” Wiyrick said. “He wasn’t drunk or anything. He was just extremely scared, like paranoid scared, and he really wanted me to call the police.”

Hobrecht wasn’t sloppy with his gun, and he never once pointed it at the couple, Wiyrick said.

“I gave the phone to my wife, and told her what was happening,” Wiyrick said. “I told her to get out of here, and go next door where my mom and stepdad live. She called 911 as soon as she left.”

Once Wiyrick knew help was on the way, the next step was to take cover and wait. Hobrecht used a closet across the hallway from the couple’s bedroom as a hiding place.

“All the lights were on in the house,” Wiyrick said. “I got on my stomach, and I crawled around the house and we got all the lights turned off. I lined up my rifle shells along the wall leading to my bedroom. I thought there was going to be a shoot-out or something was going to happen.”

The next lights Wiyrick saw came from a sheriff’s patrol car as it pulled into his driveway.

“I told the guy the police were here and everything was going to be fine,” he said. “Everything’s going to be OK.”

Wiyrick put away his rifle, and told Hobrecht he was going to go talk to the deputy.

“I put my hands up in the air, and walked right up to the deputy,” Wiyrick said. “I told the deputy about what had happened, where he (Hobrecht) was and that he had a gun. The deputy told me to go next door and crouch down.”

Then the Chewelah police officer showed up, Wiyrick said. “About three minutes later, I heard four gunshots; they were kind of muffled. And that was about it.”

The deputy and Chewelah police officer have been placed on routine paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Toxicology reports on Hobrecht are also pending.

“It was pretty intense,” Wiyrick said. “I thought everything was going to be OK after the deputy arrived – like it was a relief he was safe.

“I didn’t expect that to happen.”