Bremerton, WA

Sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan received a warm welcome to its new home from family and the Navy community of Bremerton Aug. 13 after completing the vessel’s move to Naval Base Kitsap after its years-long homeport in Yokosuka, Japan.

The Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier departed May 16 from Yokosuka, where it had been homeported since 2015. After participating in a joint force training exercise in the Indo-Pacific and visiting a Guam port en route to the mainland, the Reagan arrived in San Diego to undergo a hull swap with the USS George Washington.

Commanding officer Capt. Daryle Cardone called it a passing of the baton to the Washington, which replaced the Reagan as of this month as the Navy’s sole forward-deployed Naval Forces-Japan aircraft carrier.

An owner’s promise to rebuild and reopen a historic Bremerton market that erupted in flames in 2021 has come to fruition about two years later.

The newly remodeled Midtown Market at 1534 6th St. reopened in late February after being damaged by fire and smoke. Despite the devastation felt by owner Akash Juneja and his family, who acquired the store in 2018, a promise motivated by the support of the community was made days after the blaze.

“People like to support local,” Juneja said. “You go to a bigger store where they don’t have that personal touch, they miss that part. We are here as a community, a family.”

Standing in the middle of the market’s newest layout, Juneja and shoppers alike believe the fire may have ended up being a blessing. “We made it, and we’re here,” he said. “We’re bigger and better with a beautiful store, and we couldn’t do it without the community.”

Customer Lance McCoy added: “I’ve been coming to this market since 1974, and this is the absolute best it’s ever looked. It’s weird how things work out like this.”

After five pilots and trainees flying into Bremerton National Airport reported laser beams striking their windows while above the runway along Highway 3 on Tuesday, a man contacted by police on a nearby side road was charged with unlawful discharge of a laser, a felony.

On Tuesday morning three different aircraft reported to the airport's control tower that someone was shining a green laser from the ground at the planes, including one witness who said the laser struck her in the eye and caused a brief blindness and a headache that lasted approximately 20 minutes, according to court documents. Pilots in each of the three aircraft, two of which had students alongside flight instructors, identified the source of the laser as a silver sedan, seen from the air at different locations surrounding the airport.

Bremerton police were dispatched to the airport just after 1 p.m., after an airport employee located a silver Honda Civic parked on Airport Way SW, just south of the runway between the Amazon warehouse and the roundabout at Old Clifton Road, and called 911.

A 44-year-old Bremerton man was inside the car, and refused to answer when an officer asked why he was sitting in a parked car near the airport. The suspect also initially refused to provide his identification and told the officer that he was recording the interaction, according to a probable cause statement. No laser device was found in a search of his car, but due to multiple witnesses identifying his car as the source of the laser and the suspect's lack of an explanation for his behavior, the man was arrested and booked into Kitsap County Jail on $40,000 bail. He was charged in Kitsap County Superior Court Wednesday.

The first pilot interviewed told police he had been doing "touch and go" landings at the airport, and when doing a southbound landing saw the green laser come at the cockpit from his right side, west of the airport. He told police he looked over to see a silver sedan driving southbound on Highway 3.

A second pilot, who was instructing a trainee, told a different Bremerton officer that his plane was using the same runway, taking off in the same direction as the first plane, when it was struck by a green laser coming from the west as well, twice in about a ten-minute span. At one point the two filmed a silver car on Old Clifton Road that showed the laser light coming from it, and the pilot also had a clear view of a silver sedan as the plane flew overhead, parked west of Highway 3 on a short paved connector road to Imperial Way in the Port of Bremerton's Industrial Park. The trainee in that plane told police her eyes were "spotting" after seeing the laser, and she experienced a headache. The pilot also reported a feeling of temporary blindness.

he third plane to report being struck, also with a flight instructor and student inside, told police that the laser struck their windows twice, also coming from the west at a site specifically described as on Imperial Way. The pilot also described a "silver car, like a Honda sedan," matching the testimony of witnesses in the first two planes.

The Honda was contacted by police on Airport Way, just across Highway 3 from Imperial Way and before the road's roundabout with Old Clifton Road.

State law specifically includes airplane pilots in the description of the crime of unlawfully discharging a laser, prohibiting action "causing an impairment of the safety or operation of an aircraft or causing an interruption or impairment of service rendered to the public by negatively affecting the pilot." The statute also applies to protection of law enforcement, firefighters, transit drivers and school bus drivers.

North Kitsap's proposed school bond is failing in the initial returns from Tuesday's election, according to Kitsap County Auditor Paul Andrews, with just 36.88 percent of the votes counted in favor of the $242 million measure.

Two measures in Bremerton were passing in Tuesday's returns. Prop. 1, renewing a programs and operations levy, had 62.08 percent of votes in favor. Prop. 2, a bond that would replace two elementary schools and the district's alternative high school, among other projects, was narrowly passing, with 60.87 percent in favor.

A levy measure for Central Kitsap School District's levy renewal was trailing, with 48.74 percent of ballots counted in favor.

Two levy measures on Bainbridge Island were both passing, with 73.06 percent in favor of BISD's Prop. 1 and 74.02 percent in favor of Prop. 2.

Bonds require 60% voter approval, while levies require simple majority (50% plus one).

The Poulsbo man suspected of murder and then driving his truck into multiple vehicles along Highway 3 early last Monday morning was arrested just minutes after leaving the scene where a 45-year-old victim, identified as Andrea Gaudette, was found the following day.

Gaudette was found after friends and co-workers asked Bremerton police to check her home in the 5000 block of Fifth Street, in Bremerton's Auto Center Way area, after not hearing from her all day Monday or Tuesday. The co-workers told police that Gaudette, who worked from home, had logged into her work computer but was unresponsive to repeated messages, according to the charging documents. The friends alerted police that Gaudette had expressed concern over issues related to a volatile relationship with a boyfriend she had lived with in the past but was not currently living in the Fifth Street home, who detectives identified as Harvey.

A Bremerton officer visited the home early that evening, initially knocking on doors and windows without any response, and then entering the home through a window in Gaudette's bedroom. Inside he found Gaudette, dead and with "severe bruising through her arms, chest, neck and face," a Bremerton officer wrote in his report.

Bremerton police detectives arrived after securing a search warrant for the home, and found Gaudette's computer was on and accessible. The computer, which Gaudette had signed into a day earlier, allowed them to access the video security system Gaudette had in the home, which included a camera pointed toward the living room and front door of the home.

BREMERTON — One Nimitz sailor was stabbed in the barracks in Bremerton and transported to a Seattle hospital Saturday morning, and two other Nimitz sailors are now in pre-trial confinement related to the incident, the Navy said.

Three sailors assigned to the Bremerton-based USS Nimitz aircraft carrier were involved in an altercation in the barracks at Naval Base Kitsap on Saturday, Nimitz spokesperson Tim Pietrack told Kitsap Sun.

One sailor was injured and transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The sailor is in stable condition, Pietrack said on Monday. Two other sailors are currently being held in pre-trial confinement at the Northwestern Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the spokesperson said.

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that a Bremerton man had pleaded guilty to four felony charges that stemmed from his "extensive" history of swatting – or summoning law enforcement to a location on an urgent, false pretense.

Ashton Connor Garcia pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors are recommending that Garcia, who is scheduled to be sentenced in April, be sentenced to four years in prison.

Garcia made a series of swatting calls between June 2022 and March 2023 to law enforcement targeting victims in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, prosecutors said. Garcia called and made reports to various emergency dispatch services throughout the country, and in response to many of his calls, law enforcement officers were dispatched to targeted addresses, according to court documents, which note that Garcia used a social media platform to broadcast the calls.

In one incident in August 2022, Garcia called the Bremerton Police Department to falsely claim that he had shot his mother, and in another incident in September 2022, he falsely reported to Bremerton police that he needed help because his father shot his mother and was running around the house with a shotgun, according to court documents.

In another incident, he sent messages to an individual in Ohio in which he threatened to publish nude pictures of her and swat her and her family if she did not send him credit card information, and in another, he threatened to swat a person in New Jersey if she did not send him sexual images.

In others, he told Kentucky State Police that he was holding two people hostage with a pipe bomb and an AR-15 and that he would kill them unless he received $50,000 in cash, called police in Cleveland, Ohio, to report that he had planted a pipe bomb at a TV station in that city, told police in Charleston, Illinois, that he had planted a bomb at a park, and told police in Los Angeles, California, that he had stashed four pounds of explosive material at an airport that he would detonate unless he received $200,000 in Bitcoin.

On February 13, Bremerton voters will face a choice about whether or not to approve a 25-year, $150 million bond in a special election.

Two elementary schools on the city's east side, Armin Jahr and View Ridge, will largely be the recipients of the bond. Both are slated to be replaced, if voters approve — Armin Jahr was constructed in 1968, and has not seen any updates since the 1990s. View Ridge was constructed more than a decade earlier, post World War II, and now sits on an overall parcel of land owned by the school district off Wheaton Way that offers multiple options for reconstruction if the project moves ahead.

Other projects included in the proposed bond, which must be approved by 60 percent of voters to pass, include replacing the district's alternative high school, Renaissance, from its location near the district offices, upgrading HVAC systems at all schools in the district, and replacing a facilities building.

Aging facilities built for fewer students

View Ridge Elementary, just south of the Sylvan Way library and east of the busy Wheaton way corridor, houses 400 children, grades pre-k through fifth grade, though it was built for 300. About a third of the student body is situated in 12 portables outside the school, including preschool. The capacity situation, says Bremerton School District Assistant Superintendent Garth Steedman, is even worse at Armin Jahr, which sits not far from View Ridge on the west side of Wheaton Way, south of Blueberry Park.

“You know, these schools need to hold probably 600 kids. And yet right now, AJ [Armin Jahr] is bursting with 500 [students].” 

Armin Jahr was constructed in 1968, and was last remodeled in 2004. Its current enrollment is 488 students, and its capacity is 481. View Ridge has been remodeled around four times, the last time being in 1994, but the facility was built in 1956, making it 68 years old. School staff and district leaders say the buildings are showing their age.

As Principal Korene Calderwood walks around the facility, she notes that the roofs have had leakage issues, pointing to a hole in the ceiling. The school was built open concept, sometimes called "California style" with open breezeways, which may not necessarily be the best design for the Puget Sound area's consistent rainfall during several months of the school year. Calderwood describes the layout as “maze-like,” and notes that the impacts of the buildings being outdated fall on more than simply repair issues, but also student learning. 

“I think when you look at View Ridge and Armin Jahr, which were built in the 50s, were built for different purposes, different educational philosophies than we have now… so some of the purposes of building the school for educational purposes have changed over the years," Calderwood said during a recent tour. "And we are doing our best to meet the needs of our 21st century students in a building that was designed for the 1950s.” 

Superintendent James Crawford says that having students learn in an environment like that is inherently obstructive to their learning.

“When we're talking about bursting at the seams, we're not just talking about portables, we're talking about things like the learning lab over there in the library..." Crawford said. "Kids sitting in the hallway…those basic learning experiences do not lend themselves to improving student achievement. They just don't. And if that’s the infrastructure that you have, that means that… we don't have the ability to be able to do what the best practices are telling us to do, because the very nature of that building is just bursting.”

If the bond is passed, new buildings on each campus would be built to accommodate 550-650 students, a need the district points to as Bremerton is forecast to continue growing in population.

Equity issues at district's most diverse schools

On a national level, low-income students and students of color tend to attend schools that are older and have more maintenance issues, according to a 2018 report to Congress by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. That's also the case for Armin Jahr and View Ridge, according to the school district.

“Armin Jahr and View Ridge are the most diverse elementary schools in the district," Crawford said. "And obviously, they're the ones that need the most work. And so you've got kids that are diverse, a large portion of them are impoverished, inside schools that aren't up to date.”

Armin Jahr's student population is predominantly students of color, with almost half being Latino, according to Bremerton School District enrollment numbers. And 70% of students come from low-income backgrounds. At View Ridge around half of the student population are students of color and 63% are low-income.

“We're talking about decreasing the variables that are getting in the way of actually improving achievement," Crawford said. "The basic variable that gets in the way is the fact that the foundation of the school is not supporting what the educational practices are saying...and so then when you walk down the hallway, and you look at the kids that are that are trying to learn in a situation as best as possible, they happen to be black and brown. That's a huge problem.”

East Bremerton community campus

View Ridge Elementary school sits on 23 acres of land owned by the school District, with the school's campus contiguous to several ballfields and what used to be home to East High School, and then Bremerton Junior High, which was torn down in 2018. The old East gym is now well used as a community gym on the property, and a Boys & Girls Club facility was built next door, but other land at the site sits vacant, like neglected old tennis courts behind the community gym.

Breaking ground on a replacement school for View Ridge could present an opportunity for further development in the campus. The plan released by the district offers two options for the new View Ridge school building, one near the current site and another closer to the community gym, which could lead to other changes across the property.

Crawford and Steedman both said that development beyond the school replacements has not been planned, and the specific site for View Ridge and any further planning is a later step in the process, with Crawford equating the final placement to "a bunch of puzzle pieces, basically.

In district plans a new Armin Jahr is situated on the current campus, next to the existing school. Renaissance High School is currently located in a building on First Street, near Forest Ridge Park in West Bremerton.

“What we've put forth in terms of a bond is what you "see on paper and that's the replacement of Armin Jahr and View Ridge, consolidated services, relocation of Renaissance and HVAC [upgrades] across the system. Those are the five areas that are part of this proposal,” Crawford said.

“So you examine what kind of land is available. Where can we build? What is going to be most fiscally responsible for us in terms of timing? All those factors go into play when you start to kind of move around where buildings actually ought to be.”

If the bond passes, Steedman says that construction would begin on the development next spring, with construction happening hopefully around June 2025.

WSF currently does not anticipate full, permanent restoration of service on domestic routes until new vessels start entering the fleet in 2028

The Bremerton route will likely continue to have issues until 2028

BREMERTON — The Bremerton-based aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) returned to Bremerton Sunday afternoon six weeks after it went underway for routine operations in the Pacific Ocean.

The Nimitz departed from its homeport in Washington in mid-August, some weeks after it completed its last deployment and arrived home in July. The ship's carrier strike group (CSG-11) went underway to conduct its sustainment exercise (SUSTEX) in the 3rd Fleet area of operations, according to a statement from the Navy last month.

During the SUSTEX exercise, the strike group did flight operations with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17’s aircraft and underwent integrated training evolutions that tested core warfare areas.

“SUSTEX is a critical part of the strike group's mission, showcasing the integration and teamwork that gives us competitive advantage in all domains,” the strike group's commander, Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture said in the statement. “It’s how the strike group shows that even after a seven-month deployment, talented Sailors stand ready to respond, compete and win across the full spectrum of competition and conflict.”

CSG-11 consists of the Nimitz, the squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 17, and ships from Destroyer Squadron 9. Those who participated in SUSTEX included the Nimitz, CVW 17, Destroyer Squadron 9; Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Decatur (DDG 73) and USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93), according to the Navy.

It's always emotional for Deborah Wood to see the warship her son, Thomas is serving, returning home, the Bremerton resident said. Deborah and Thomas's wife, Debbie, waited in the drizzling rain at Bachmann Park to welcome the Nimitz around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.

As an immigrant, Deborah from Nicaragua is proud and happy, and feels special to see one of her kids serving the country she loves, she said.

Lauren Staab with her son, 15-month-old Barrett, in her arms, felt relieved after the ship arrived. Lauren's husband, Robert serves on the Nimitz. The family is planning to watch a movie and catch up with each other before Robert goes on duty tomorrow, Lauren said.

The Nimitz is now the only aircraft carrier based in Naval Base Kitsap. Another Nimitz-class carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, is scheduled to relocate to Bremerton from Japan next year.

The ferry Walla Walla, which had been sailing between Seattle and Bremerton, will be out of service for at least four weeks as crews repair a propeller that broke near Rich Passage last week.

Losing the 188-car Jumbo class boat for a month forces Washington State Ferries to shuffle its fleet yet again, likely meaning more backups on the already thin ferry system.

The state ferry system has recently resembled a game of Tetris. The Walla Walla was pulled from service Friday when the ship started to vibrate. It was replaced by the 144-car Chimacum, which itself had just replaced the 202-car Wenatchee on the Seattle-Bainbridge route, which is out for a year as it’s converted to hybrid-electric. Now, the 64-car Salish will remain on the Bainbridge crossing while the Chimacum stays on Bremerton.

The result of the puzzle is that both the Bremerton and Bainbridge routes have lost capacity. Bainbridge will carry 138 fewer cars between its two boats while Bremerton will carry 44 fewer. Bainbridge is the state’s busiest route, carrying 4.5 million rides in 2022 and more than 8 million before the pandemic.

The Salish was previously tied up near Port Townsend and not in use. If it turns out the ferry needs longer than a month, WSF may reshuffle its boats again, said WSF spokesperson Brian Vail.

The Walla Walla was tied up after crews noticed intense vibrations as they pulled into Bremerton and suspected propellor damage. Divers found that a blade on one of the propellors had been shorn off. The cause has not been found, but it’s not uncommon for a ferry to hit a log or some other object.

Initially, WSF hoped divers could fix the issue underwater, but it later determined the boat needed to be drydocked — lifted from the water — to make the repairs. The company Vigor, which has a shipyard on Harbor Island, is likely doing the work, Vail said.

This is the second time this year the Walla Walla has been pulled from service for emergency repairs. Earlier this year, fuel contamination caused cascading failures on the boat’s generators, killing power to the steering and causing the ferry to beach onto Bainbridge Island.

Built in 1972, the Walla Walla has come to symbolize the state’s aging and tired fleet of boats. Just nine of the 21 are considered in good shape and three are already or nearly due for retirement. State lawmakers budgeted $1.3 billion in 2022 to build five new hybrid-electric boats, but negotiations with Vigor to do so fell apart and the state has not yet found a replacement shipbuilder. The earliest a new boat could arrive is 2027.

Meantime, the state has begun converting its largest Jumbo Mark II boats to hybrid-electric. When the Wenatchee returns in fall of 2024, the Tacoma will be pulled from service followed by the Puyallup in 2025.

It took well past the four-hour mark at another drawn-out meeting of the Bremerton City Council Sept. 20, but the city has finally passed its new camping ordinance by a vote of 6-1, banning camping in certain public spaces when and if shelter is available.

The law bans camping in parks, city-owned properties and public right-of-way. Councilman Quinn Dennehy was the sole vote against, though he could have just as easily been joined by Councilwoman Jennifer Chamberlin, who showed extreme hesitancy in giving her vote of approval.

Now it’s Mayor Greg Wheeler’s turn to act. “He’s briefed that he’s working on it; this is a tough thing, but to be clear, it is on the mayor,” council president Jeff Coughlin said. “It’s been more than six months, and we knew even before the Salvation Army closed down, (lack of shelter) was an issue coming.” Councilman Eric Younger added his disappointment with an apparent lack of communication, saying: “Mayor, we’re going to pass this ordinance hopefully tonight, and it’s on you, as the administrator, to put in this overnight camping shelter. It needs to be a decent place, with better living conditions than what people living on the streets have now.”

It’s not clear when the law goes into effect, but under current conditions, such an ordinance would begin with enforcement suspended. Wheeler reiterated his promise of additional shelter space by Nov. 1, but he was also one of a few public officials calling for a vote to not take place that night.

“I have received hundreds of emails since last Wednesday,” he said in a Sept. 19 letter to the council. “Our community does not have a clear understanding about what the council will be voting on tomorrow.”

A vote on postponement of action failed 4-3.

Unlike the law provided before the public two weeks ago, the one the council OK’d does not include a map of city-owned undeveloped properties where the law could not be enforced if there was no available shelter.

“When that map came out and people saw that list of sporadic properties, they freaked out and reasonably so,” Coughlin said. “We tried, but the rest of the city obviously did not want that, which is why we changed and went back to a simpler ordinance that is more in line with all the other cities around us.”

Now the law relies solely on its caveat of needing available shelter space for the homeless in order for enforcement to take place. Such options could be both inside and outside Bremerton-provided-available transportation.

The votes were conducted before a crowd inside the Norm Dicks Government Center that was just as dense, if not more so, than the crowd that filled seats and then some two weeks prior when the council delayed its expected vote. With the law vote listed as the last item on the night’s agenda, residents would be in for another long wait of over two hours before any public discussion.

Still the majority waited, a testament to the long wait of nine months already endured by the public since the council announced its intent to prioritize the growing homelessness crisis and three months since the council’s first documented discussion of an updated law in late June.

During that same time, the issue of homelessness in Bremerton snowballed, with the causes ranging from a lack of affordable housing and emergency shelter to a heightened drug epidemic.

“This is the worst it’s been here,” Mike Simpson said. “Again, the room is filled with people because of this particular issue, and most of the homeowners just want the encampments gone. Do that.”

A hazardous heat wave is forecast to bring scorching temperatures to the Pacific Northwest this week, according to the National Weather Service, and 10 cooling centers will be open for residents around Kitsap County.

An excessive heat warning is in effect through Wednesday night, but there is a slight risk of the heat persisting through Friday.

Temperatures in Seattle this week will be the warmest recorded this year with afternoon highs in the 80s and low 90s. The mercury in Bremerton had passed 80 before 11 a.m. on Monday and is expected to break 90 by afternoon.

Just a few hours south the heat is expected to be much more intense.

The heat wave could break the August temperature record in Salem, Oregon, if the mercury exceeds 108 F. Some areas in the Willamette Valley – from Salem to Eugene – could reach 105 to 110 on Monday.

In Portland, Oregon, highs could reach 107 on Monday and 104 on Tuesday before dropping below triple digits on Wednesday.

Kitsap County announced Monday that cooling centers will be open throughout Kitsap until Wednesday, provided by Kitsap Regional library, the YMCA and the Salvation Army. In addition, rides to cooling centers on bus routes will be available from Kitsap Transit and fares will be waived.

The cooling centers will be located at:

• Salvation Army in Bremerton (832 Sixth Street, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.);
• Kitsap Regional Library locations on Bainbridge Island (1270 Madison Ave.), Bremerton (1301 Sylvan Way), Kingston (26159 Dulay Road NE), Manchester (8067 E. Main Street), Port Orchard (700 NE Lincoln Road, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Poulsbo (700 NE Lincoln Road), and Silverdale (3650 NW Anderson Hill Road), from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until 7 p.m. Wednesday.
• YMCA locations in Bremerton (2261 Homer Jones Drive) and the Haselwood Family YMCA in Silverdale (3909 NW Randall Way), from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. each day.

The cooling centers do not affect other operations at the library or YMCA facilities.

Updated information on Kitsap County Cooling Centers can be found at kcowa.us/cooldown.

Law enforcement linked a 38-year-old Port Orchard man to a robbery at the Bank of America location on Riddell Road in East Bremerton on Wednesday using a grocery store receipt and social media photos, according to court documents.

During the robbery at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the man walked into the bank branch and demanded a teller put money on the counter and "stated something to the effect of, 'do it and no one will get hurt,'" a Kitsap County sheriff's detective wrote in a report about the incident. The teller handed the man about $1,000, and he fled.

After the incident, clothes that the man was seen wearing in surveillance photos and a receipt from the Callow Avenue Safeway from earlier that morning were found a short distance from the bank. Law enforcement obtained more photos of the man from Safeway and from a Shell gas station on Wheaton Way a short distance from the bank around the time of the robbery.

The sheriff's office released suspect photos on social media, and several people reached out and identified the man, according to court documents.

On Thursday, "arrangements were made" to meet the man, and he was arrested. Prosecutors charged the man with a count of first-degree robbery in Kitsap County Superior Court on Friday.

The man's girlfriend told law enforcement that he contacted her on Wednesday afternoon asking if she wanted to meet and get her vehicle out of impound about 30 minutes after the robbery, the detective wrote. The two met in Bremerton, and he had $900 in cash to contribute to the impound fees, with the explanation that he had won the money at a casino.

On Saturday a fireworks show that organizers are calling the largest display from a bridge on the West Coast will light up the skies above the Manette Bridge in Bremerton around 10:15 p.m.

Thousands of people are expected to gather on the Louis Mentor Boardwalk, Whitey Domstad Park in Manette and at Evergreen Rotary Park to witness about $35,000 worth of fireworks being launched for the annual Bremerton Bridge Blast. Live music and food will be available at the boardwalk from noon until 10 p.m. and at Evergreen from 2-10 p.m. The boat launch and all parking lots will be closed at Evergreen, but all paid street parking will be free on the day of the Bridge Blast. Check out the Bremerton Bridge Blast website for more details about the event.

In addition to the Bridge Blast, there are many other events throughout Kitsap County to celebrate the Fourth of July. Kingston and Bainbridge Island’s have their grand parades on Independence Day, while Port Orchard’s Fathoms of Fun parade is this Saturday with a fireworks show on July 1. More details are below:

Port Orchard’s Fathoms O’ Fun Festival

Concerts by the Bay (every Thursday, 6:30-8 p.m. from June 22 to Aug. 31 at the Marina Park Gazebo)

June 24: Grand Parade (6 p.m. in Downtown Port Orchard)

July 1: Concerts by the Bay (4-10 p.m. at the Marina Park Gazebo) and fireworks over Sinclair Inlet (10 p.m. at the Marina Park Gazebo)

July 16: Hot Rods at the High School (9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Kitsap Bank Stadium at South Kitsap High parking lot, $20 pre-registration fee) Kingston

July 3: Music in the park, cornhole tourney (11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. at Mike Wallace Park)

July 4: Pancake Breakfast (8-11 a.m. at the Kingston Cove Yacht Club)

Tiny Town and the Fun Zone Bouncy Houses (10 a.m.-5 p.m. at Village Green Park)

Fourth of July parade (12-1 p.m. on State Highway 104 from Lindvog Road and Washington Avenue)

Free hot dogs for kids (1 p.m. at the Kingston Cove Yacht Club)

Music in the park (5:30-10 p.m. in Mike Wallace Park)

Fireworks (10 p.m. at Mike Wallace Park) Bainbridge Island’s Grand Old 4th of July

BHS Football boosters pancake breakfast (7-11 a.m. in the Town and Country west parking lot)

Bainbridge Youth Services Family Fun Run (9-11 a.m.)

1 Mile (9 a.m. in front of Bon Bon on Winslow Way)
5k (9:30 a.m. at Madison Avenue and Bjune)
Kids Dash (10:30 a.m. at Winslow Way and Madison Avenue)

Car show (9 a.m.-2 p.m. in the parking lots behind Umpqua and Chase Bank)

Bainbridge Island Photo Club exhibit (10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Bainbridge Island Senior/Community Center)

Beer, wine and cider garden (11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Brien Drive)

Grand Old 4th Hometown Parade (1-3 p.m. at Madison Avenue and Wyatt Way)

A 22-year-old man has been charged with assault after an incident in East Bremerton that left a 23-year-old fatally shot and another man seriously injured.

The events that led to the death came following a fight in the parking lot at McCloud's Grill House off Wheaton Way in Bremerton early Friday morning, according to court documents.

The Kitsap County Medical Examiner's Office identified the deceased man as 23-year-old Deshawn Wild, of Lynnwood, and said his cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and his manner of death was homicide.

Prosecutors have charged 22-year-old Pierre Francious Taylor with a count of first-degree assault, for shooting a man involved in the incident who police linked to the shots that killed Wild, according to court documents. The assault victim was seriously injured and was taken to St. Michael Medical Center before he was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.

A spokesperson for the hospital said Tuesday that the man had been in satisfactory condition and had been discharged.

No one has been charged for Wild's death, and Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney Chad Enright said Wednesday, "Based on the evidence that we currently have, it appears that (the assault victim) acted in self-defense, but we will continue to review evidence as it comes in."

Bremerton police said in a news release last week that shortly after shots were reported at McCloud's early Friday morning, Bremerton Fire Department medics had been at the old Harrison Medical Center site on Cherry Avenue in Bremerton when a vehicle stopped, its driver pulled a man from the passenger seat and left him on the ground before driving off. Medics began to treat the man, later identified as Wild, in their ambulance, but he did not live, police said.

A Kitsap County sheriff's sergeant located the vehicle that dropped off Wild and detained the driver, police said. Court documents identify that man as Taylor, who prosecutors charged with the assault count in Kitsap County Superior Court. In an initial court appearance on Monday, Taylor pleaded not guilty to the charge, and his bail was set at $1 million. McCloud's incident

Wild, Taylor and the assault victim were visiting the bar together and had been out in the parking lot near a Toyota Camry, a rental car Taylor had been driving, preparing to smoke together before the confrontation took place, a Bremerton police officer wrote in a report about the incident.

At one point, surveillance video showed Wild lifting his shirt as he seemed to be speaking to the assault victim, the officer wrote, noting, "I have seen this sort of movement before as a police officer and is typically meant to show the presence or lack of a firearm when carried in a waistband, appendix carry."

Wild was then seen walking to the front passenger door of the Camry with another man, and Taylor was seen approaching the driver's side door. Wild then leaned into the vehicle, turned, approached the assault victim, who was at the back of the vehicle, and threw a "large" punch at him, the officer wrote.

The two fell to the ground and ended up in between two vehicles, and Taylor appeared to stand at the back of one of the vehicles. The officer wrote that a man who appeared to be the eventual assault victim could be seen "punching and possibly kicking downward" and said the person being struck was "presumably" Wild.

As the assault victim was swinging, he suddenly fell out of camera view, which appeared to be when he was shot, the officer noted. The officer wrote that based on the video, it appeared that Taylor shot the man, the assault for which he was charged this week. Wild went to the passenger side of the vehicle and eventually exited it and appeared to approach the assault victim before he suddenly turned back toward the vehicle and ran. This appeared to be when Wild was shot, the officer wrote. He fell to the ground and laid there for a moment before he then crawled to the vehicle, which lingered for a bit before it left the area.

The Camry was later stopped, and Taylor was arrested. The Bremerton officer wrote that Taylor placed himself at the scene of the shooting and had an unused .40 caliber, Blazer brand round in his pocket. The Camry had a dent that was consistent with a grazing bullet impact about 28 inches off the ground, the officer wrote, noting that the height and impact indicated that it was fired from about that height and may have been fired from a seated position, which was consistent with where the assault victim was located.

Both .40 caliber Blazer brand and 9 mm casings were found at the scene, the officer wrote, noting, "The presence of the two rounds would indicate two people were shooting or one had two guns of different calibers."

The assault victim was interviewed by the officer at Harborview, and he relayed that the group had gone outside the bar to smoke when Wild showed he had a firearm, according to court documents.

He believed Wild was drunk and at one point "claimed Deshawn was holding him down by his neck and Pierre approached him and shot him while leaning over the two," the officer wrote. "(The assault victim) claimed he begged for his life and Pierre stopped shooting him. It should be noted, this was not consistent with the video footage, both as (he) appeared to be on top but also because at least two men were standing in the video. (He) claimed he did not recall much of the fight or what was said, and he denied having a firearm."

The officer wrote that information from Wild's autopsy appeared consistent with interpretations of the video in which Wild was shot at the back of the Camry while approaching the assault victim after the fight.

"Due to the initial observation of direction and positioning, these shots appear to come from (the assault victim), despite him denying having a firearm," the officer wrote.

Juneteenth Freedom Festival 2023 will take place June 17 in Rotary Evergreen Park, preceded by a People’s March from downtown Bremerton.

This free annual community-planned event commemorates “Juneteenth,” or June 19, 1865, the day that slavery in the United States ended, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

Community members will gather to honor that historic step of liberation, to celebrate Black culture and to recognize the work for equity and justice that still lies ahead.

The march will show unity and promote healing. It starts at 10 a.m. on the 5th Street stairs. There will be a spot in the march for fathers in honor of Father’s Day. All others will fall in behind. The march will make its way north on Pacific Avenue, turn left onto Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, right onto Park Avenue and then right onto 14th Street.

The event features activities for all ages, educational and health resources from community groups and nonprofits and a free cookout. Entertainment includes a performance by the Bremerton Youth Jazz Ensemble.

The festival will also host the 8th Annual Latricia Mathis Walk 4 Sickle Cell. For details contact Carol Riley-Wilkerson at [email protected].

The event is paid for by local government, businesses, nonprofits and donors. The festival is a collaborative effort, organized by a local community planning crew, convened by Akuyea Karen Vargas, director of Living Arts Cultural Heritage and Living Life Leadership