BY CYNTHIA MOYER of the Tillamook Headlight Herald

TILLAMOOK COUNTY — After unsuccessfully attempting to rob a bank in Rockaway Beach and leading police on a chase up U.S. 101, the two gunmen surrendered to police from the top of a tree in the woods north of Wheeler after calling 9-1-1 on their cell phone.  Earlier that day, the two gunmen, James Jacob Cotton, 24, and Jason Matthew Brown, 21, both of Lakewood, Wash., dressed in black clothing, wearing ski masks and carrying large weapons that resembled AK-47s, approached the US Bank branch in Rockaway Beach just past 10 a.m. and found the doors still locked. 

Employees of the bank branch remained inside and the bank manager called 9-1-1 as the gunmen rattled the doors before fleeing the scene.

“I was only two blocks away when it happened,” said Rockaway Beach Police Chief Larry Murray. “We got the call from 9-1-1, but those two were out the back (parking lot) before we got here.”

Contrary to what has been reported elsewhere, no shots were fired in Rockaway Beach, Chief Murray confirmed.  The two gunmen sped away northbound on U.S. 101 toward Wheeler, driving a red Camaro
that apparently had stolen Washington plates.  Police Chief Perry Sherbaugh of the Manzanita Department of Public Safety was southbound on U.S.101 when he spotted the gunmen’s car.  A Tillamook County Sheriff’s deputy was also on the scene and attempted to block the gunmen with his vehicle near Paradise Cove, just south of Wheeler. The gunmen shot at Sherbaugh and exchanged fire with the deputy, who received superficial wounds to the head area, most likely from broken glass. He was treated and released later  in the day.

Steve Zapp from the Portland Police Department was directing traffic at the scene where the two suspects fired on police. The Manzanita patrol car was hit in the bumper, according to Sherbaugh and the sheriff’s car had been hit “three or four times,” according to Officer Zapp.

“The deputy took some glass in the eye. It doesn’t appear life-threatening,” said Zapp. “I’m an officer from Portland...just here on vacation, but when there’s an officer down, you have to help.”

The Camaro continued through Wheeler, where the men turned up Hemlock and headed for the woods. They ditched their car at a dead end in Ridge View Estates, a housing development still under construction.  The development is owned by Todd Phillips, who said he received calls from his employees right after the incident occurred, telling him there were police crawling all over his property.

“My electrician said they couldn’t work because the police wouldn’t let them in the site,” Phillips said Monday morning. Phillips assisted authorities by alerting them to some back roads that had been recently brushed
back and would be no trouble for men on foot.  A woman in her 80s who lives adjacent to the development was evacuated by police, and all
other houses were soon secured as the police continued the search into the hills.  By 11:45 a.m. the authorities called in dog teams from Clatsop County and SWAT teams from the Oregon State Police and the FBI. Police had the entire area north of Wheeler surrounded, periodically limiting access to Old Mohler Road, Miami Foley and State Route 53.  At 1 p.m., all plainclothes police officers were instructed to leave the woods and the dogs were
sent in.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. the two gunmen were apparently up a tree and called 9-1-1 on their cell phone to surrender to police. The two were to take off their shirts, keep their hands in the air and come down out of the
woods shouting “We’re coming out! Our hands are in the air!” 

A helicopter was flying close overhead which was making it difficult for the ground crews to hear the gunmen, but by 4 p.m. the men came out of the woods and were taken into custody without incident.  James Jacob Cotton, 24, and Jason Matthew Brown, 21, both of Lakewood, Wash., have
been charged with two counts of attempted aggravated murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the first degree, two counts of criminal mischief in the first degree, two counts of menacing, two counts of reckless endangering another person, two counts of pointing a firearm at another, kidnapping in the first
degree and robbery in the first degree.

Agencies involved in the apprehension of the two gunmen include the Manzanita Department of Public Safety, Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office, Rockaway Beach Police Department, Garibaldi Police Department, Oregon State Police Department, Cannon Beach Police Department, Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office, Warrenton Police Department and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.

Reprinted by permission of the Tillamook Headlight Herald