An Everett police officer was shot in the head and a suspect was killed after an incident stemming from an armed robbery early Wednesday, Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe said.
At around 3:10 a.m., Everett Police were called to reports of an armed robbery in the 7600 block of Evergreen Way near a Safeway store. Officers began searching for four suspects who had fled.
Officers found one suspect near the 8600 block of Evergreen Way. As one of the officers approached the area in his patrol SUV, the suspect fired multiple shots at the SUV, striking the Everett officer in the head, according to O’Keefe.
He was taken to the Colby Campus of Providence Regional Medical Center, where officers gathered. The injured officer was stable, O’Keefe said.
Video from the gas station at the Fred Meyer store on Evergreen Way and Casino Road, where the officer was shot in his police SUV, showed the police SUV with its driver’s side door open and what appeared to be bullet damage in the driver’s side window.
After the shooting, the suspect fled across the street to the CarHop used car lot where he was confronted by a second Everett Police officer. During the confrontation, the suspect was shot and killed.
The three other suspects involved in the robbery have not been found.
Evergreen Way in Everett is closed from Casino Road to Holly Road, where both scenes are cordoned off with crime scene tape. It is not known when the road will reopen.
KIRO 7 reporter Ranji Sinha spoke to a bystander in the area.
“It’s sad, very sad. My father wanted to be an officer. And it’s times like this that I’m kind of glad that he wasn’t. Because their job is hard enough as it is, and now they have to worry about possibly putting on bulletproof vests,” he said.
The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team (SMART) is conducting the investigation. The team investigates when there is a police use of force incident such as an officer-involved shooting.
Officers from Everett and Edmonds are at the scene along with deputies from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
