A 53-year-old man, wanted for an attempted murder in Kent, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in Lewis County following a brief pursuit by Valley SWAT, Kent Police detectives and the Lewis County Sheriff Response Team.
Officers attempted to apprehend the man at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7 near the town of Randle, according to reports from Kent Police and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Randle is a small town about 100 miles southeast of Kent and south of Mount Rainier.
As officers attempted to contact the suspect he, and a passenger, fled in a vehicle, according to Kent Police. After a brief pursuit, which led to a dead-end road where the vehicle stopped, officers began to give commands for the suspect to step out of the car and surrender.
The passenger of the vehicle complied with police, however, the suspect did not, according to police. The officers moved in to take custody of the man and found he was unresponsive from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officers immediately began lifesaving efforts, but the man was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical personnel.
None of the officers discharged their firearms during the incident, according to police.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded and will be conducting an independent investigation into the death of the man. The officers on scene were wearing body worn cameras and that video is being turned over to the sheriff’s office.
Identification of the man, cause and manner of death, will be released by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office, when appropriate, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Attempted murder case
Kent detectives tracked the man to Randle after he reportedly shot and injured his girlfriend, a 53-year-old woman, at about 8:40 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Washington Park Apartments, 11020 SE Kent Kangley Road.
The woman was in the parking lot arriving home after work, according to Kent Police. Her boyfriend reportedly had been upset with her over the change of her work schedule and he believed she might be cheating on him. As the woman was walking to her apartment, she was shot twice in the abdomen.
The man then fled the scene in a vehicle.
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