4 years in prison for Coulee City man who fired at neighbor

COULEE CITY — A man who fired several shots at his neighbor on Christmas Eve in 2016 in Coulee City will be spending four years in prison.

Christopher Krauer, 50, of Coulee City, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to second-degree assault-deadly weapon, second-degree assault and resisting arrest and was sentenced to a total of four years in prison. Krauer was initially charged with two counts of first-degree assault-deadly weapon, one count of second-degree assault and one count of resisting arrest. The charges were amended in a plea agreement.

On Christmas Eve in 2016 the Grant County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of shots fired near the 300 block of South Second Street, in Coulee City. The caller advised he had stepped out of the back of his house and ran into his neighbor, Krauer, who was sitting in a van in the alley. The victim said Krauer backed out of his driveway and attempted to run him over, according to court documents.

The victim took off running and Krauer stopped the van, got out and fired two shots at the man with a handgun. The victim said he ran into his house and Krauer went to the side of the residence and fired three additional shots. Court documents indicate Krauer fired three additional shots during the brief altercation.

Reports from deputies who responded to the scene point toward Krauer having a history of calling in “several times saying people are defrauding him” and that he is a “self-admitted methamphetamine user.” Krauer barricaded himself inside his East Chelan Street home and deputies made several attempts to make contact with him via megaphone and his cell phone but he didn’t initially respond. He later started yelling at the deputies and the Moses Lake Regional Tactical Response Team (TRT) was activated and responded to the scene.

Negotiators were not able to get Krauer to leave his house and TRT members deployed tear gas into the upper portion of the structure. Krauer was taken into custody after TRT members used less-lethal bean bag rounds to gain his compliance. Police recovered a loaded 20-gauge shotgun and .380 Taurus handgun inside of Krauer’s house.