Man Uses Walker to Fight Off Daughter After Pepper-Spray Attack

A 70-year-old man used his walker to fight off a knife attack by his camouflage-clad daughter who awakened him with pepper spray, a spokesman for the county sheriff said Friday.

After Milton Finlay fended off Carol Finlay, 45, early Thursday morning, he found two long knives near his bed, said Capt. Dan Kimball, a Thurston County sheriff’s spokesman.

Moments later, Kimball said, the daughter reappeared with a loaded AK-47 assault rifle. Deputies found the two struggling for that weapon when they arrived.

Findlay’s wife, Yolanda, 73, had called the sheriff.

“It’s pretty clear . . . that this lady intended to commit serious harm against her mother and father,” Kimball said. “We’ve had half a dozen or so incidents out there in the last several years.”

Carol Finlay was jailed for investigation of first-degree assault, but Kimball said he expects her to be sent to Western State Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

She could not be reached for comment, and it was not known if she had a lawyer.

Yolanda Finlay refused to discuss the incident.

“This is a private matter,” she said.