A huge police presence converged on Ballard following the Monday morning shooting of a King County Sheriffs’ Deputy
A King County Sheriff’s Deputy was listed in critical condition Monday night following surgery at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center for a gunshot wound suffered while serving an eviction notice.
“I was not expecting any of this to happen on a Monday” 24-year-old Lauren Reed lives in the neighborhood around 8th Avenue NW & NW 54th Street “It’s pretty unsettling for a group of 20-something girls to be living right next to where a cop was shot.”
911 dispatchers were peppered with calls about gun shots just after nine Monday morning.
That’s when three sheriffs’ deputies walked up to an apartment building to serve an eviction notice, “On initial contact there was gunfire exchanged” Meeghan Black told reporters a few blocks from the crime scene “at this point we’re trying to figure out who shot first and what happened.”
Black is with The Independent Force Investigations team now in-charge of the case.
Two people were hit by gunfire; one of them was a 25-year law enforcement veteran who took a bullet to the upper body despite wearing body armor, “From what we were told he was in very good spirits when he got to the hospital” says Black.
The Show-of-Force was shocking even by big city standards; armored swat vehicles, cops in riot gear, the flashing blue & red lights from police cruisers could be seen for blocks.
The suspect is described as a 29-year-old man who returned to his apartment after the initial shots were fired.
“Hundreds of people die on our streets daily and the sheriffs department is responsible for enforcing evictions” But a friend, who refused to be identified, says deputies shot a scared transgender woman who was terrified of being homeless “I think what happened was that out of desperation she barricaded herself in her apartment because she didn’t want to leave.”
It’s not known how the suspect was killed; by deputies or an act of suicide, “There was an exchange of gunfire, and two deputies discharged their service weapon” Black says that’s key to this investigation “when officers were able to make entry (into the apartment) they found the individual deceased.”
Those deputies are on administrative leave; the investigation we’re told could take months.
