Law enforcement officers examine the scene of the shooting this morning at the intersection of West Vine Street and Second Avenue in Napavine.
This news story was updated at 10:45 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
NAPAVINE – A Lewis County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man early this morning in Napavine.
Deputies were assisting the Napavine Police Department with a call to a burglary in progress, in which a man reportedly armed with a knife was trying to break into a home, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The deputy observed a suspect a short time later; the suspect refused to take his hands out of his pockets and then charged the deputy, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
The deputy shot the man who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. It happened at 2:12 a.m., according to Brown.
The deceased is a 33-year-old Napavine resident, according to Brown.
The burglary call was on Fifth Avenue Northwest; the deputy was situated “on containment” on Third Avenue Northwest, according to the news release.
A team of outside investigators were on the scene this morning.
The Regional Shooting Response Team is made up of law enforcement officers from the counties of Thurston, Mason, Pacific, Grays Harbor and Lewis, according to Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield.
The investigation into today’s shooting doesn’t include a member from Lewis County, Mansfield said.
The incident began with a call to a house where the man left stab marks through the door and several stab marks on a vehicle; it was some kind of dispute, the sheriff’s office said this morning.
“So somebody’s acting pretty violently,” Chief Brown said.
Napavine Police Department Officer-in-charge Silas Elwood said the house wasn’t randomly chosen; there was a relation between the resident and the man.
Napavine Officer Noel Shields responded to the 911 call, as well at at least two deputies, according to authorities.
The name of the dead man has not been released. His body lay this morning in the street at the intersection of West Vine Street and Second Avenue, several blocks from the targeted house.
Inside yellow police tape were a large white crime investigation van belonging to the regional response team and numerous law enforcement officers.
Nearby neighbor Don Webster said he heard shots in the night, but didn’t think a lot of it.
“I heard gunshots, four, rapid,” Webster said.
He thought it might be someone shooting at animals, like raccoons and didn’t hear more afterward, he said.
The deputy was not injured. His name has not been released.
He has been placed on administrative leave as is standard procedure, according to Mansfield.
The sheriff said it appears the deputy followed protocol, but “that’s why we’re doing the investigation.”
The last time a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot someone was in 2002, when Deputy Hal Sprouse shot a man as the two struggled in a ground fight in the Rochester area, according to Brown.
Law enforcement officers examine the scene of the shooting this morning at the intersection of West Vine Street and Second Avenue in Napavine.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
VHamilton firstly; before you point figers at someone LEARN HOW TO SPELL! Secondly what is your point regarding your post? Lastly how and why did you come up with the assumption of two wrongs not making a right? Lets add things up here… reports of man with a knife… confronted and ordered by an officer to take his hands out of his pockets and lay on the ground. Subject is uncooperative and does none of this, then charges the officer. The Deputy already knows that the subject stabbed not into a door but “through” the door of the victim. Would you Ms. Hamilton let this individual charge you? GET REAL. Good Job LCSO!
I think that you Ridge are just a little Bitter and maybe some sort of therapy would be of help to you, before You, yourself become a Criminal out of peer bitterness. Perhaps if our Officials were doing thier jobs properly and without Haiste all this crime and hatred would be a little more subdued.
Crime can not be stopped if alls people are doing is assuming, pointing the finger, and guessing. FACTS, FACTS, FACTS, are required to solve a crime properly. Not bad timing, assumptions, or bitter hateful people.
If more people took the time to listen to all sides of a happening, and wiegh out all of the evidence, (not just part of it) then maybe things would be a little less Criminal.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. and when someone is as bitter as you seem to be, well, I don’t see how things will ever get better for YOU.
If a person is ordered by the cops to take his hands out of his pockets and stop, then do so, To charge the cop, well, you’re just asking to be shot. In this case, it happened. I’m sure they will find it justified, and return the cop to duty quickly. And remember, WE didn’t do it to this guy (the burglar)…. he did it to himself. I say Kudos to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department.
This deputy did the right thing. Sometimes it is necessary to protect life and property with deadly force. He has saved the residents of Lewis County many more break in’s and perhaps a deadly confrontation will an ill equipped homeowner. I have zero sympathy for the burglar having been the victim several times of these drug addled scum.