On Christmas Day, An I-5 Shooting

The snow started to fall in earnest around 4 o'clock yesterday, so we cut the family visit short and headed back up toward Seattle -- it was slow going but eventually the snow changed to sleet and then to rain. Up around Federal Way, traffic came to a halt, though the road was clear. We searched on "I-5 traffic" from our phone, and right away the KOMO story on the shooting came up. We were still about a mile south of the South 320th Street exit. We inched forward and passed the scene, the KIRO mobile crew's antenna towering above it all. This was where a 27-year-old man jumped out of a family vehicle on I-5, began running around hitting cars with his belt, mooning them, trying to get inside, lying in traffic. When a state trooper arrived, the man rushed at the trooper, choked him, and -- not responding to a Taser -- was shot.

It was 6:30pm. He was killed between 2:30 and 3:00pm. The Seattle Times reports:

The suspect had been in a car with his girlfriend and their two children, boys ages 11 and 12. At least one 911 call was made from that car, with the caller saying the man had a handgun, police said.

Police are investigating if the man was on drugs, adds the Times.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By MvB in News on December 26, 2007 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

upsetfriend

This one is for party fernandez why would you be happy that someone was murdered by the police.

upsetfriend

One more thing i've spoken to an eyewittness who said she saw the cop shoot my friend while he was down on the ground

upsetfriend

I'm was a 21 year friend of the man. first off the kids were his brother and his girlfriends kid.

second they never called the police and said he had a gun. If you watch the video the cop came up behind him he did not rush the officer. One last thing an eye wittness who is a icu nurse said there was no taser marks on him.I first read this when it was first posted I was just to mad to write anything

i would like to hear from any one who would like to contact me my email is lemon21@comcast.net

stephany

"just crazy". This is a tragic story, all the way around.

MvB

It sounds like it could have been a full-fledged manic episode. I read where his family said he hadn't slept in a few days. I wish that trooper had had more backup.

partyfernandez

i imagine the findings of the drug investigation will be used to help the cop's case that he had to shoot him - since, if the dude was on speed or crystal meth, the taser probably wouldn't have had any affect on him.

i drove by the scene at around 6:15 and saw the bodybag. sadly, i was happy (well, "happy") to find out this morning that the dude was just crazy and not somebody getting in a car accident on christmas.