Kent Police shot and killed a 58-year-old Kent man armed with either a shotgun or rifle at about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Kent Transit Center in the 300 block of Railroad Avenue in downtown Kent.
Two officers responded to a 911 call from a taxicab driver about a man with a gun at the Metro bus transit center, said Lt. Tracey Gurr, Kent Police spokeswoman. The officers spotted the man standing outside of a taxicab armed with a gun.
“They pulled up, there was a confrontation and shots were fired,” Gurr said.
The man died at the scene. No one else was injured.
“We don’t know if his gun was fired or not,” Gurr said.
The Kent Transit Center is just east of the Kent Station shopping mall.
“There were people in the area and eyewitnesses to the event,” Gurr said.
A couple of hours after the shooting, the man’s body remained on an unpaved shoulder just outside of a Farwest taxicab. A tarp covered most of his body. He had on black boots, jeans and a gray jacket. The gun also remained on the ground, just a couple of feet from the man’s body.
Federal Way Police will investigate the shooting because it involved Kent Police.
“We don’t investigate our own shootings,” Gurr said.
The man had exited the cab when officers arrived, said Cathy M. Schrock, Federal Way Police spokeswoman.
The two officers gave verbal commands to the man but he did not respond, Schrock said.
“He then started drawing a gun out of his clothing,” Schrock said. “One officer fired and the man was deceased at the scene.”
Schrock said she did not know how many shots were fired.
“There is no motive or idea about why he came out of the cab agitated and started to draw,” Schrock said. “The close proximity raises the threat for everybody.”
Both officers, a 41-year-old, three-year veteran and a 30-year-old, six-year veteran, have been placed on administrative leave, a routine practice for police shootings until the investigation is completed, according to Kent Police.
The taxicab driver picked up the man and noticed after he was in the car that he had a gun with him, Schrock said. He drove to the transit station, exited the cab and called 911 to report the man with a gun.
Police did not know where the cab driver had picked up the man.
“We are trying to determine the route,” Schrock said.
The identity of the man and the names of the officers are expected to be released Thursday, Schrock said.
At the crime scene, the two police cars that first arrived were facing north on Railroad Avenue, just behind the cab. The cab also faced north. An orange cone marked evidence on the windshield of one of the patrol cars.
Gurr said she did not know what kind of evidence that cone marked on the car.
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