Prosecutors Say Fatal Shooting Was Self-Defense

TUKWILA

All along, neighbors have said Floyd "Pappa" Bales, 87, is no murderer. Yesterday, after reviewing police accounts of the night Bales fatally shot his grandson-in-law, King County prosecutors agreed, calling the death a justifiable homicide.

A Tukwila detective who investigated the March 17 death of Clyde "Jerry" Clampit, 46, said police found nothing to implicate Bales or Clampit's wife, Debbie Siskar-Clampit, who was with her grandfather at the time of the shooting.

"All the evidence clearly looks like self-defense. This was a frail, elderly man facing Clampit, who was breaking down his door," said Sgt. Doug Partlow.

Clampit, 46, was violating a no-contact order when he went to Bales' house the night of his death. Police say Clampit broke a window and was forcing his way through a locked door when Bales shot him twice.