On Friday, March 26th, 2021, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Andrea Moore was working an overtime detail in the Pines neighborhood of Yelm. Around 8:00 pm, Deputy Moore was dispatched to a suspicious circumstance call at a residence on Holly St SE.
When Deputy Moore arrived at the residence, an elderly woman answered the door and there was a man standing right behind her. Seeing the concern on the woman’s face, Deputy Moore asked the woman to step outside. When she did so, the man behind her, Ronald Clayton, raised a large knife and stabbed the Deputy in the neck.
Moore drew her service weapon and shot the suspect several times, stopping the attack. She called out over the radio – “shots fired! I’ve been stabbed.” and Yelm Police officers and other TCSO deputies responded quickly. These Officers and Deputies, along with medics from Southeast Thurston Fire, performed live-saving treatments on Deputy Moore and she was transported to the hospital. She was in and out of consciousness and at one point she did not have a pulse.
Moore underwent surgery and made a full recovery. She now works as an Officer for the Lacey Police Department. On May 6th, 2022, Moore was awarded the Law Enforcement Medal of Honor by Governor Jay Inslee. This is the highest honor given to law enforcement in the state of Washington.
Prior to the incident with Deputy Moore in March of 2021, Ronald Clayton was already a violent convicted sex offender.
When Clayton was 16, he knocked on a woman’s door, pointed a handgun at her, forced her into a bedroom, and raped her. He ransacked her apartment. When she wouldn’t leave with him, he strangled her with a cord and told her that he was going to kill her. And she was certain that he would. Eventually, he led her out of the residence at gunpoint. She ran to a neighbor’s residence and called police.
He was sentenced to just over 10 years in prison for that incident, and was released in 2011. He has been in and out of custody since, having been convicted for failing to register as a sex offender, and cutting off his GPS tracker. He was released sometime on Thursday, March 25th, 2021.
And at 1:40 pm on Friday, March 26th, 2021, Clayton cut off his GPS tracker. Again.
About six hours later, he was attempting to rape an elderly woman inside her home in the Nisqually Pines neighborhood of Yelm. A neighbor was concerned for the woman’s safety and called 911.
Today, Ronald Clayton was sentenced to 26+ years in prison for the attempted murder of former Deputy, now Officer Moore.
Officer Moore provided the following Victim Impact Statement to the court:
“On March 26th 2021 you tried to kill me but couldn’t. I remember your demonic face sizing me up before charging at me… you had a goal to kill me… but look… you failed… I’m still standing.
It brings me great satisfaction being here. You have to sit in this court room…you have to listen to me and look at me ….a woman… yes me a woman… I brought you down. You failed at over powering me because again you’re a failure.
You’ve spent your pathetic life tormenting those you deem weak… you get off on thoughts of domination and disgust… but take a good look at me…all 5’1” 120lbs …you picked the wrong one. Little did you know my whole life was preparing for that moment. Every hardship I endured instilled a level of grit and resilience you’re no match for. I beat you and I could beat you over and over again.
I’ll live with the residuals of that day for the rest of my life…but I wouldn’t change a thing…I’m glad it was me. I hope you sit in prison and soak in the reality that you aren’t a man…you’ll never know what it means to be a man.
You only deserve a lifetime of misery with your constant companion…. failure. I never thought I’d say this but…I’m glad you survived the wounds I inflicted upon you…because I’d rather you sit and rot in your miserable shell and know I’m the one who put you there.”
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