TACOMA, Wash., Dec. 1 (UPI) — Tacoma, Wash., police shot and killed a man sought in the shooting death of a police officer.
The unidentified man, 38, barricaded himself in his home and held off police for 12 hours after allegedly killing an officer who’d responded to a domestic violence call. A SWAT team member fired a single shot to kill him Thursday morning.
The incident began late Wednesday afternoon when the police officer responded to a call in Tacoma’s Eastside neighborhood and was shot. The officer was hospitalized and died at 9 p.m.
The male suspect barricaded himself in the home as dozens of police units arrived on the scene. Authorities said gunshots could be heard inside the house, although no shots were fired by police, and KIRO-TV, Seattle, reported shots were fired at an overhead police helicopter.
“We have the house surrounded, but we have not been able to confirm that he is inside, so we have locked down the neighborhood,” Tacoma Police spokeswoman Loretta Cool said Wednesday night.
The suspect’s wife and another woman were able to leave the house. A boy, 8, and a girl, 11, were rescued from the home after the suspect was shot.
“Our priority was to make sure those kids were safe. We weren’t going to let those children get hurt,” Pierce County Sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer told the Washington Post.
