An armed citizen coming to the aid of others stops a suspect who stole a boat and went on a rampage.
On September 15th at approximately 10:53 p.m. Patrol and Harbor officers responded to Portage Bay in the 2600 block of Boyer Avenue East for the report of a man who was ramming boats and the docks with a boat he was piloting.
Preliminary investigation indicates that the 22-year-old male suspect stole a 35-foot yacht at the Queen City Yacht Club (Portage Bay) and began ramming other boats and the docks. A man on the docks feared that the lives of the other boat owners and people standing on the docks were in imminent danger. He armed himself with a shotgun and fired at the suspect, striking the suspect on the head and hand. This stopped the suspect’s dangerous actions.
The suspect then began exiting the stolen boat he was piloting as responding officers arrived on scene. The suspect, who was completely naked from the waist down and believed to be high on narcotics, was taken into custody without further incident.
Fire department medics treated the suspect at the scene and subsequently transported him to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect caused extensive damage to the docks at the yacht club and also damaged multiple boats. Thankfully nobody innocent was injured during the incident. The armed citizen was interviewed by officers and released at the scene.
The suspect remains under police guard at the hospital. Upon release he will be booked into the King County Jail for boat theft and property damage, both felonies.
This remains an active and on-going investigation.