Officers shoot, kill person on train tracks over Highway 410

Police shoot man armed with knife, following 911 crisis call

A 35-year-old man is dead, shot and killed by police, after investigators responded to a 911 call for a person in crisis.

SUMNER, Wash. - A 35-year-old man is dead, shot and killed by police, after investigators responded to a 911 call for a person in crisis.

The call came in around 6:30 p.m. Sunday evening for a man in crisis on the train track overpass along Highway 410 in Sumner.

FOX 13 Seattle spoke to a man who said he is the one who called police.

"Thirty feet away, dressed in white. There was some conversation. He was talking to himself, and I told him, ‘there is no camping here. You need to go on.' And he wouldn't leave." said Erik Giertsen.

Giersten said the 35-year-old was near his backyard. When the man refused to leave, he called 911.

"Police kind of broke contact with him for a while. I don't know why. Maybe they were getting a negotiator or something. And he was up there, and I said to him, ‘nobody wants to hurt you.’ It’s so sad. If I were to know this was going to happen I would have never called 911. Honestly, I feel really guilty," said Giersten.

Officers from the Sumner Police Department, along with the Washington State Patrol, Puyallup Police, Bonney Lake Police and a civilian crisis responder were involved.

After about two hours of negotiating, police shot and killed the man. The press release from police said, "the incident resulted in the use of lethal force by members of the Sumner, Puyallup and Bonney Lake departments."

"Officers immediately attempted life-saving measures, and called for paramedics to the scene, but unfortunately he was pronounced deceased on the scene," said Sergeant Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

Pierce County Sheriff, who were not directly involved in the incident, are now the investigating agency into the shooting. There is no information as to what led up to the deadly shooting. Moss does report that the 35-year-old who was killed was armed with a knife.

The shooting victim's identity has not yet been released.

All officers involved are now on paid leave, which is normal procedure in incidents like this.

Since the departments involved have body cameras, there should also be footage from the incident, but that has not yet been released.