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Wanted Man Fires at Officers, is Wounded When Police Return Fire

An armed suspect fired upon law enforcement officers attempting to serve a high risk, no bail felony warrant in the 12800 block of 163 Avenue SE just outside of Renton Wednesday afternoon. Officers returned fire, wounding the suspect. None of the officers where injured in the exchange of gunfire.

Two Department of Corrections (DOC) officers and a Seattle Police Department (SPD) detective were attempting to arrest a 37-year-old man for a felony warrant when the suspect fired upon officers. One DOC officer and the SPD detective returned fire, wounding the suspect.

The suspect was transported to Harborview Medical Center where he underwent surgery and is recovering from his wounds.

All three employees are veteran law enforcement personnel assigned to the ATF Puget Sound Regional Crimes Task Force. While the ATF was on scene to support their task force members, this was not part of a federal investigation or operation.

The warrant service was being conducted as part of a regional approach to violent crime, with the understanding that those involved in criminal acts do not respect jurisdictional boundaries.

After coordinating with DOC, SPD is taking the lead in the investigation since a member of SPD was directly involved.

In accordance with SPD policy designed in collaboration with the Department of Justice, detectives from SPD Homicide, the Force Investigation Team (FIT), and SPD Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) responded to the scene, along with representatives from the Office of Professional Accountability, to collect evidence and review the incident.

Homicide detectives will investigate the suspect for firing a handgun at law enforcement officers while FIT detectives will investigate the force used by both the SPD detective and the DOC officer. CSI detectives will support both investigations, which are moving forward on parallel tracks.

Both the SPD detective and the DOC officer who discharged their weapons during the incident will be placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, in accordance with protocols shared by both agencies.

The information in this post is preliminary. Some details may change as detectives review the evidence and process the scene.

Updated 6/1 to include photos of the suspect’s weapon.