Man shot, abducted in Cheney

Lucid employee Cameron Smith has many traits, one of which is a knack for assigning people nicknames.

For Stacia Shirley, manager of the Cheney marijuana shop, Smith dubbed her "Boss Lady." His brother, Lucid co-owner Dennis Turner, got "Charlie."

"It's old-school Chicago terminology," Turner said with a chuckle on Sept. 12.

As of press time, Sept. 12, Smith has been missing since a shooting and kidnapping that took place Sunday, Sept. 10, at Lucid, disturbing the peace of a sunny and thankfully no longer smoky afternoon.

At roughly 12:30 p.m., a man described as Native American with face and neck tattoos, entered Lucid and attempted to purchase marijuana, passing Smith in the doorway as he left to eat his lunch after bringing Shirley her lunch from a local eatery. The Native American man was denied further entry, and left.

Soon after, Cheney police Capt. Rick Beghtol said a 19-year-old woman entered the store and was also refused because she lacked identification. Beghtol said video surveillance footage outside showed the man and woman exiting a white, Ford F-250 utility pickup prior to entering the store.

Shirley said the women entered the store a second time, this time with some type of reservation ID. She was again refused since she was too young to purchase any product.

"They weren't angry," Shirley said of the pair. "Not combative at all."

Shortly after the woman left the second time, Lucid employees heard a pair of gunshots, raced outside and saw Smith's gray, 2008 Acura leaving the parking lot in a hurry.

Beghtol said the video footage showed the Native American man standing at the driver's side of Smith's Acura, leveling a 9 mm handgun at the window and firing two shots at virtually pointblank range. He then opened the door, got behind the wheel after shoving Smith into the passenger seat and fled the scene, followed by the Ford pickup which contained not only the 19-year-old woman who had entered the store but a third unidentified female.

Both vehicles fled north on State Route 904 out of Cheney at a high rate of speed. Beghtol said the man indicated he was from Yakima in chatting with store employees, and a subsequent inquiry revealed the Ford pickup matched one that was reported out of White Swan on the Yakama Nation Reservation the day before, Sept. 9.

He added that evidence at the scene didn't bode well for Smith's physical condition.

"I don't have any hard facts, but I think he's injured," Beghtol said.

Officials at the Yakima Sheriff's Office and Yakima Tribal Police were assisting in the hunt along with other agencies such as the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, the FBI and U.S. Marshall Service brought.

Cheney police tracked a final contact on Smith's cellphone to a location at Murphy and Meadowlake roads on Monday morning, but nothing was found. Late Tuesday afternoon, Smith's Acura was located in a vacant lot near Spoko Fuel at the future site of the Spokane Tribe of Indian's casino in Airway Heights.

Cheney Police Chief John Hensley said the no weapon was found in the vehicle, and that it had been brought back to Cheney for further processing by state investigators.

Police later identified the suspect as Donovan Culps, 36, and Violetta Culps, 19, both from the White Swan area. Hensley identified Violetta as Donovan Culps niece, and said there was a $1 million warrant out for both of their arrests.

Additionally, Smith's wallet and identification were reported to have been found on the Spokane Indian Reservation near Little Falls by a construction crew. It was turned into Spokane Tribal Police late Monday.

Hensley said Donovan Culps is familiar to the FBI. The vehicle he left Lucid in, Smiths, was noticed at the Spokane's casino construction site at 6 a.m. Monday morning by one of the workers, who told police that when he came to work, the car wasn't on the site, and then when he looked up again moments later, it was there.

When it hadn't moved Tuesday morning, the worker investigated, realized it was wanted, and called police. How Donovan Culps left the area was not readily apparent.

"The bad guy either walked out on foot, or somebody drove him out," Hensley said.

The outpouring of concern for Smith has been significant, as over 100 people attended a Monday night vigil for him at Lucid, lighting candles and signing cards and posters. At the store Tuesday, a woman leaving with product paused at one of the displays in his honor and said simply "I want him back."

Another man told store employee Kayla, who declined to give her last name, to keep her head up.

"We just miss him and want him back," she said. "Super happy, super caring; he has nothing bad to say about anybody."

Turner and Shirley echoed those remarks, as did others. Turner said his brother moved out here from Toledo, Ohio, and has been with the store since it was originally established as 3 Green Thumbs, selling medical marijuana and then recreational when the state changed regulations on the fledgling industry.

Smith was a barber for 20 years in Toledo, Turner said, and was also a member of a Masonic Lodge. The current Airway Heights resident moved to the area to specifically help Turner with the new business.

"Cam's personality is one in a million," Turner said. "You can tell by the number of people he brought out (to the vigil)."

"He is Mr. Hakuna Matta himself," he added, referring to the popular "Lion King" character.

Turner went on to say that Smith is an individual who easily befriended people, and just as easily lent himself out to those who were in need. He knows everything about Lucid's customers, where they work, what they do for fun, likes and dislikes and was just as comfortable helping someone move as he was "sitting on their porch" chatting.

"Cam is one of those people who has a personal relationship with everybody," Turner said.

Shirley said Smith was always offering his expertise in the business to Lucid employees, and the employees respected him so much, that his advice was usually acted upon.

"We would try to convince him not to do something, he would still do it," she said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.