A wanted male homicide suspect and a woman who was identified as a victim were both killed following an officer-involved shooting at an East Bremerton residence in the 3000 block of Forest Drive NE Nov. 17, a Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team news release states.
The identity of the suspect has not been confirmed. No law enforcement officers were injured.
The suspect had been barricaded inside the residence all morning and was surrounded by SWAT teams from Pierce and Kitsap counties.
Earlier in the morning, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and agents with the FBI, assisted by Kitsap patrol deputies, attempted to arrest the suspect at that location around 3 a.m. Shots were fired by the suspect at approximately 3:40 a.m. and continued throughout the morning, a social media post from PCSD states.
“Our SWAT team got out here with the armored vehicles, and shortly after they went on the scene and tried to contact the suspect through the PA system, he started shooting at our deputies,” PCSD Sergeant Darren Moss Jr. said.
Moss stated he believed the suspect was armed with a rifle and pistol and that no deputies had yet returned fire. “The nice thing right now is we do have armored vehicles, so our deputies are safely protected sitting inside of those,” he said in a brief press conference Nov. 17.
Steve Browne, a nearby resident, was already awake at 3 a.m. when he said he began to hear the commotion.“I heard some talking out here, cause they were using the loudspeaker, and then I heard the gunshots. I walked out to see it, and it was just like a million cops out here. I couldn’t believe it.”
The investigation of the shooting has been turned over to KCIRT and Pierce County Force Investigation Team.
Nearby Mountain View Middle School was briefly put into a modified lockdown. View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy was also affected, closing its doors and canceling classes for the day as a result. Blockades and road closures at Sylvan Way at Olympus Drive and Perry Avenue may remain in place for some time as police work to investigate the incident.
