Mail.comMARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) — A day after dozens of gunshots were directed at police in three Washington state towns, law enforcement officials said little about what prompted the shootings.
They did say they were thankful no one was killed. After two police officers fired their guns Wednesday night, police said a 43-year-old man surrendered and was taken to a hospital with undisclosed injuries. Both officers have been placed on leave; neither was hurt.
Police likely won’t discuss a possible motive until the man is charged, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Thursday. Once discharged from the hospital, the suspect, from Granite Falls, is expected to be booked into jail for investigation of two counts of first-degree assault with a firearm and three counts of drive-by shooting, she said.
A Marysville police sergeant who was helping the two officers was also injured. The Daily Herald of Everett identified him as Sgt. James Maples. The 19-year veteran was treated at an Everett hospital and released. The nature of his injury was not clear.
The hour-long shooting spree in the towns of Granite Falls, Lake Stevens and Marysville generated approximately 30 “shots fired” calls to police dispatchers, Ireton said. The area is about 30 miles northeast of Seattle.
Bullets hit the Granite Falls police station and a patrol car about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said. Several rounds went into the building. The car had the windows shot out. A half-hour later, shots were fired at the Lake Stevens Police Department. A patrol car and animal-control vehicle as well as the building and reader board outside were hit, the sheriff’s office said.
No one was hurt at either station. Witnesses had reported a suspicious white pickup truck that officers spotted about 10:10 p.m. in Marysville. The suspect stopped or slowed and fired twice before finally stopping and firing more shots.
He finally obeyed command to get out of the vehicle. Officers found several guns in and near the truck, the sheriff’s office said. Granite Falls Police Chief David Bowman was also injured when he suffered an apparent medical issue and crashed his pickup into a concrete barrier on Interstate 5 while responding to the gunfire, the Washington State Patrol said.
He was taken to a Mount Vernon hospital and later transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, The Seattle Times reported. The gunfire alarmed Marysville residents. Mackenzie Harris, 17, of Marysville, told KOMO-TV that she and a friend saw officers pull over a pickup truck. The truck driver then pulled out a gun and started shooting.
“We heard gunshots, so we ran inside,” she said. “While we were running up to my room, we heard, like, two dozen more shots being fired. We walked back down stairs and heard cops screaming and a bunch of yelling.”
Annie Fitzgerald and Chris Tracey were playing video games in their second-floor apartment when they heard gunfire. “We heard pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, like 10 shots” maybe more, Fitzgerald told The Daily Herald.
“There was definitely gunfire going both directions,” Tracey said.
It’s definitely beginning.