UPDATE: Crime Stoppers offering $1,000 reward for return of missing police rifle

The missing semi-automatic rifle is similar to this AR-15 (NOTE: this is not the actual missing rifle).[/caption] UPDATE: Crime Stoppers is now offering a $1,000 reward for return of a missing semi-automatic rifle, which – as we previously reported – fell out of a police SUV on Tuesday, Nov. 24 after a vehicle pursuit near SW 136th Street and Ambaum Blvd SW (map below). Police say that the rifle fell out of the back of a patrol SUV that had stopped to deploy spike strips during a pursuit around 9:18 p.m. that night. A deputy stopped his patrol vehicle and lifted up the rear hatch to pull out the spike strips. The pursuit changed directions and the deputy put the spike strips back in the vehicle and closed the rear hatch. As the deputy was driving off he heard a noise and stopped and saw that the hatch had not closed all the way and his patrol bag had fallen out. The deputy loaded up the bag, closed the hatch and drove to the pursuit location. Shortly after, a citizen called police and said she saw a large black case fall out of a patrol car near the scene. Deputies returned to the area within a few minutes and the rifle and case were gone, it apparently had fallen out at the same time as the patrol bag. The Sheriff’s Office policy manual requires deputies to carry their rifle “…in a vehicle trunk….or in an approved rack mounted in the passenger compartment”. The deputy in this case was driving a Ford Interceptor SUV which has a rear hatch rather than a trunk. The rifle is described as a Bushmaster XM15-E2S, serial # BFI650769. If you have found this case/rifle or have information about who may have it, please call the King County Sheriff’s Office at 206-296-3311.

NOTE: Crime Stoppers is a “no questions asked” tip line, according to Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff’s Office.