Suspect dead after shooting involving officers in Seattle

SEATTLE - Detectives are investigating a deadly shooting involving an officer that happened in Seattle's Rainier Valley neighborhood on Tuesday.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) made the initial announcement on social media at around 1:39 p.m. saying detectives were investigating an officer-involved shooting near the corner of South Othello Street and 42nd Avenue South.

What they're saying:

According to an update from Seattle Police Department Chief Shon Barnes, officers responded to a 911 call at around 1:30 p.m. reporting a person walking on South Othello Street towards Martin Luther King Jr. Way South waving a weapon and not wearing a shirt.

Authorities said when officers arrived, they approached the suspect and tried to negotiate with them. When the suspect advanced on the officers, they fired their weapons. One officer used a handgun, another used a rifle.

The suspect went down – still holding the weapon – and officers used a 40mm sponge round to dislodge the weapon from the person's hand, and they began to render aid.

"Unfortunately, this person has passed from their injuries," said Chief Barnes. "As you know, all of these officer-involved critical incidents are investigated by King County Force Investigation Team. So what you're seeing behind us is the scene basically being preserved so that they can come out and do a thorough and an independent investigation."

"It's also important to note that just feet from where this happened, where the person was walking towards an elementary school," said Chief Barnes. "So officers did place the elementary school on a brief lockdown. That lockdown has been lifted and that there is no further danger to the community at this particular time."

Authorities say no officers were injured in the incident.

Dig deeper:

Some neighbors, like Carina Gonzalez, were just getting home from work when they saw the heavy police presence.

"He had been walking through the neighborhood with a weapon," Gonzalez said. "A cop was speeding down the train tracks, there was traffic, so he was bypassing all of it."

Other witnesses described hearing an officer yell, "Put the gun down," quickly followed by five to seven shots. One man who didn’t want to be identified told FOX 13 the sound was "deafening."

"I don’t how much they did with communicating with him or trying to get the gun away from him, so it’s sad to see someone in my community has died," said Gonzalez. "They were shooting at our building so I could see all the bullet holes and all the different bullets over there. I think people were shaken up definitely."

Because the light rail was shut down during the investigation, some residents had a longer commute home. One couple said they had to take an hour-long detour.

"From our workplace there is a shuttle bus that brings us to the park and ride," said Drianita Bagaoisan. 

"From China Town we are supposed to get the train coming here," said Leandro Bagaoisan.

Chief Barnes said the investigation into the shooting will be done by an independent team from the King County Sheriff’s Office.

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