Veterinarian will not be charged in man's shooting death
Originally published here

Thursday, February 15, 2001
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Associated Press

SHELTON -- A Shelton-area veterinarian who shot and killed an intruder in his clinic Dec. 7 will not be charged, the Mason County prosecutor's office said.

Prosecutor Gary Burleson said he found Ken Coleman's use of deadly force to be reasonable. If facts change, Coleman could be prosecuted, Burleson said.

Robert P. Inman, 18, died in a ditch about 130 feet from Coleman's clinic after Coleman fired shots at Inman and another man. The second man, 25-year-old Otis William Dahman, was arrested and booked into the Mason County Jail on outstanding warrants.

Coleman was sleeping at his clinic that night, armed with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, because police had warned veterinarians that armed burglars might hit clinics looking for the drug ketamine. The drug is known as "Special K" and is referred to by police as a date-rape drug. Veterinarians use it to sedate cats.

The intruders cut phone lines to Coleman's clinic and nearby home, Burleson said, and were armed with guns and a knife.

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