Camas councilman arrested, charged with reckless endangerment and aiming a firearm

A Camas City Council member accused of throwing a rock and brandishing a handgun during an alleged argument with a fisherman near the Washougal River Greenway pedestrian bridge in Camas maintains his innocence.

“I assure you, I did nothing wrong,” Svilarich told The Post-Record on Friday, Sept. 13, when asked about his recent arrest for reckless endangerment and aiming a firearm.

Svilarich, 66, said he has obtained legal representation and referred further questions to his lawyer, Vancouver criminal defense attorney Jon J. McMullen.

On Friday, Sept. 13, Camas police detectives arrested Svilarich and charged him with the two misdemeanor crimes.

According to a Camas Police Department news release, Svilarich was processed at the Camas Police Department and released Friday, while the handgun used in the alleged incident was surrendered to Camas police detectives.

Camas police say they responded to a “disturbance involving a firearm” along the Washougal River Greenway trail in Camas around 8 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 31.

“The disturbance began as a verbal argument between a fisherman along the river, and a pedestrian who was walking along the greenway trail and over the pedestrian footbridge,” police stated in the news release.

Police identified that pedestrian as Svilarich, a Camas city official who won his at-large Camas City Council race in November 2023, after serving for more than two decades on various Camas-area boards, commissions and associations — including as the president of his Deer Creek Homeowners Association and as the former chairperson of the Camas School Board’s Citizens Advisory Committee.

The alleged argument between Svilarich and the unidentified fisherman “escalated to the point where an 8-inch rock was thrown from the bridge and down towards the fisherman below,” according to Camas police, who stated in the news release that “the altercation continued along the walking path, and (Svilarich) brandished a handgun and aimed it towards the fisherman.”

Police say officers interviewed Svilarich, the fisherman and other witnesses on Aug. 31. Following an investigation, Camas police detectives arrested Svilarich on Sept. 13, and charged him with two misdemeanor crimes of reckless endangerment and aiming/discharging a firearm.

This is a developing story. For updates and more information, read this week’s issue of the Camas-Washougal Post-Record on Thursday, Sept. 19, or visit The Post-Record online at camaspostrecord.com.

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