Man charged for shooting semi-automatic rifle at Yelm Jehovah's Witness property
OLYMPIA, Wash. -
An Olympia man was indicted by a federal jury in connection with a 2018 shooting directed at a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.
Court documents say 50-year-old Michael Layes, who also goes by Mikey Diamond Starrett, used a semi-automatic rifle to "deface, damage, and destroy real property" at the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in Yelm on May 15, 2018.
Layes was charged with one count of damage to religious property, use of a dangerous weapon and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. He has also been charged with a hate crime.
If convicted, Layes faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on the charge of damage to religious property involving the use of a dangerous weapon.
According to The Olympian, Layes is also the prime suspect in several arsons targeted at Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Halls in Pierce, Thurston and Mason Counties in 2018.
The Olympian tracked those fires from March 2018 to July 2020.