On June 16, 2019, 59-year-old John Roger Swigart of Pasco, Washington, was fatally shot during a confrontation on Jensen Quarry Road in a rural area near Bickleton. The shooting grew out of a long-running dispute between Swigart and 61-year-old Mark Lessly Allen of Roosevelt over a road; the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office had previously suggested the men seek court orders against each other, but neither did.

According to investigators’ accounts, Swigart was leaving his cabin that afternoon with his girlfriend and her sister when he and Allen met driving in opposite directions. Both drivers stopped, exited their trucks and a physical altercation began. Allen retrieved a .40-caliber pistol and said he first fired a warning shot, then that during a struggle he was grabbed around the neck and, fearing for his life and losing consciousness, fired over his shoulder, striking Swigart in the head. The two women with Swigart said Allen fired multiple times before the fatal shot. Allen was booked into the Klickitat County jail and later released; the prosecuting attorney declined to file criminal charges, citing a strong argument for self-defense, a conclusion the sheriff publicly supported.

Are there readers who knew either man or who were in the area that afternoon and can share what they saw?