A homeowner fired a warning shot at a man running at him with a sharp object in his hand in Burien late Tuesday night (June 13), and when Deputies responded to the scene, the suspect came at them as well. Two tasers were ineffective in stopping the suspect, and he was shot by one Deputy as he advanced on them. The suspect died of his injuries. Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, King County Sheriff’s 911 received multiple calls regarding shots being fired in the 13600 Blk of 3rd Ave S in Burien (map below). As Deputies were responding, a homeowner from the area called to report that he had fired a warning shot at a man who had advanced on him while holding what he thought was a knife. The homeowner told 911 that just prior to him firing the warning shot, his friend had come to his door and was yelling that someone was chasing him with a knife. The homeowner armed himself with a handgun and went outside to see what was happening. While in front of his house, the homeowner was confronted by a man holding a knife or some sort of sharp object in his hand. That suspect began advancing on the homeowner in a threatening manner. As the suspect approached him, the homeowner fired a round into the ground as a warning. That did not dissuade the suspect and the homeowner ran back into his house and slammed the door just as the suspect was about to enter. The suspect began pounding on the door and stabbing it with the object he was holding, all the while yelling that he was “The “Creator.†At about this same time, KCSO Deputies from Burien arrived and confronted the suspect in front of the house. They ordered the suspect multiple times to get on the ground and drop what he was holding. The suspect did not comply with their orders and began advancing towards the Deputies. Two Deputies fired their tasers at the suspect in an attempt to stop him from advancing. The tasers were not effective and the suspect continued to advance. At this point, one Deputy fired at least 1 round, striking the subject in the torso. Deputies immediately began lifesaving first aid efforts and also called for Fire / Medics to respond. After Medics arrived, they took over lifesaving efforts, eventually transporting the suspect to Harborview. The suspect died of his injuries. The city of Burien contracts with the King County Sheriffs Office for police services. The Deputy involved in the shooting has been with the King County Sheriffs Office for 2.5 years. He has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard for officer involved shootings. Little is known at this time about the suspect. At the time of this press release, King County Sheriffs Office Major Crimes Detectives are currently at the scene collecting evidence and gathering more information about the entire incident.
King Co. deputy shot & killed a man who investigators say was armed with a weapon. It happened in a Burien neighborhood overnight. #Q13FOX pic.twitter.com/K0geNtoDFR
— Adam Mertz (@AJMertz) June 14, 2017
While we're mid-special report from @ABC here's local news: A witness tells us their account of the overnight fatal OIS in Burien. #KOMOnews pic.twitter.com/Kp23F0549z
— Jordan Treece (@JTreece406) June 14, 2017
]]>Detectives comb neighborhood w/ flashlights looking for evidence after @Burien police shoot/kill man armed w/ knife #KOMOnews pic.twitter.com/VCKQA1uLKp
— Denise Whitaker (@deniseonKOMO) June 14, 2017
Sounds like a ‘clean shoot’ if there ever was one.
He created himself a life changing experience.
Another reason for all law abiding citizens to be armed.
Well first off I am glad the person involved was able to make a warning shot. Instead of just reacting with a life ending shot in that situation. That had tobe a hard situation for anyone to go through.
It’s unfortunate the supect in this situation for what ever reason would not listen to the police. Now is gone due to his actions.
It’s sounds like this person may have a mental break down or just read a book to many times and got confused. Then there a good possibility of some drugs involved ether prescription or street or a combination of the two.
Reading some of these comments hurts my heart. While every news report and post repeatedly refers to the deceased as “Man” the sad truth is that this was a barerly 19 year old, kind, caring, compassionate kid that had a smile and spirit that could light up the darkest of spaces. I will choose to remember him for the amazing person he was DAILY rather than the one night of drug induced poor choices that ended his life. Rest in peace sweet boy.
It’s terribly unfortunate and heartbreaking our law enforcement officers aren’t trained to subdue suspects. I’m sure most of us have made mistakes in our own lives does not mean we should have them taken. Especially by those who are in place to protect and serve ALL of us. Whether he was a suspect or not and was armed with a KNIFE. That does not make his life any less valueable. He had not harmed anyone. I feel this could have been resolved in a non lethal manner. With also knowing the suspect i know that even with a knife it would have been possible for officers to take him down in another way. Rest In Peace Love. Just know many of us love you and will remember you for who you were not who they’re portraying you to be.
The Police are trained to subdue Suspects. And the proper level of force (and for good reason) authorized when someone is armed with a lethal weapon is lethal force. They were not required to try and tase him but they did anyways and it did not work. It doesn’t matter if you knew the person or not. It would be unreasonable and foolish to ask Police to place themselves in even greater danger by attempting some foolish disarming technique. The deceased made poor life choices and they had very final consequences. Don’t put this on the Police.
There are always alternatives. But there is not always time to use them. When someone is not phased by two taser hits, has a weapon in their hand, and is moving towards you refusing to stop, you do what you have to do to keep yourself safe.
The homeowner had the time and distance to retreat, barely. Both the homeowner and the police did all they could do under the circumstances to prevent a loss of life.
Poor choices for that kid resulted in a bad outcome for him.
For anyone who has had a family member that is either mentally ill or involved in drugs we know the angst of calling the police, who as you say, are looking out for their own lives and are not trained to use other ways of subduing a ‘raging’ person. Perhaps it’s time for the public to demand such training. We have special units for many other types of threats, why not units trained for subduing (let alone understand) the person who is acting out.
Please know, I have great regard and respect for the police. I am just saying, some people have mental illness or take drugs that takes them to places where they cannot be responsible for their actions. If we saw a 3 year old acting out, God hopes we would not kill it as our only response. How about a 7 year old? Or a 12 year old? At what point do we as a society give up our humanity and say ‘Just shoot him.’
We know tasing is often not effective with raging individuals. But, this cannot be our only alternative. Are we not willing to even try to come-up with other ways for the police to apprehend such a person?
I also see a sad tendency to defame the person, as if you all know his history and all about his ‘poor life choices’. Really? This sounds like a need to clear one’s conscious of what you know is wrong.
I think the issue in this case. Is the way the call came in . It came in as a shots fired called ( neighbor called hearing a gun shot) and not as a person having a mental break down. So the police prepare to combat against a firearm. Not a person having a mental break down or drug induced break down. So how is that on the police for how they responded. Now if they would have had better information then they could have prepared other non lethal ways of taking care of the issue. Like bean bag rounds from a 12 gage or a negotiator to help the person. But unfortunately they did not get that information and had to respond in the way they did.
You clearly have no idea how Police are trained. Citizens Academy. Sign up for it.
The police did try to subdue. They tased him twice. He had already tried to stab and kill two people. He was armed. The police ordered him to stop. They did everything right. We are all saddened by this loss of life, but the police are not to blame here
Did you pen this yourself ?
Two taser where used before the shot was fired.
Now this person under normal circumstances maybe a nice person. But under what ever this person choose to take that made him act in such away was unfortunately his mistake.
Obviously if someone takes a warning shot at you. Then you stop your actions. If the police pull up you don’t run towards them with a weapon in hand. If the police deploy there taser’s you definitely are in the wrong. If they are inefficient then the police are trained to unfortunately take a shot possibly a life ending shot. In this case they did try to perform first aid on the person.
This is a very unfortunate out come but I don’t get blaming the police for doing what there trained to do. Maybe you should have spent more time with your friend keeping him from acting in a such away or keeping him away from what ever drugs he was on instead of blaming the police.
Am I losing my mind here? The article said, that the guy went after someone with a sharp object, that person had a rifle and fired a warning shot at him which didn’t deter him. Then the man with the rifle ran inside the house and the suspect chased him to the house and stabbed the door to the house several times when he didn’t catch him. This was AFTER he chased someone else with that same sharp object trying to stab him. The police finally killed him when he went after them with this same sharp object and did not respond to shots from tasers.
This person was seconds away from killing four people…and we are supposed to have sympathy for him because he was someone that made “a few poor choices?”
This world is going crazy.
I hold no animosity towards the Police for this shooting, but I want people to know the “Tommy” I knew was a very kind and compassionate person. He would always greet you with a friendly smile and kind word. I hope people who have a conscious disclose what really happened and we find out what were the events prior to the Police arriving that led to this tragedy.