Suspect arrested in Everett manhunt after shots fired at officer

EVERETT — A fugitive said to be wearing just one shoe paralyzed much of Snohomish County on Wednesday after he allegedly shot at a deputy during a car chase and then injured a woman in a crash along I-5.

The 23-year-old Lynnwood man eluded capture for about two hours before he was tracked down about 8 p.m., hiding in a wooded area in the 7100 block of Olympic Drive.

The evening commute ground to a halt as I-5 was closed in both directions in Everett. Neighborhoods went into virtual lockdown as police combed through woods, sheds and even baseball diamonds, looking for signs of the man.

It was a “relentless search,” said Rebecca Hover, spokeswoman with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

The man was arrested just down the street from Lee Blakesley's home.

Blakesley was watching news accounts of the manhunt on TV and made sure his doors were locked in case the fugitive tried to barge into his home. After the arrest, he looked down the street as a half-dozen patrol cars and ambulances with flashing lights converged by a wooded area at the end of the block.
“It's usually a quiet neighborhood,” he said. “This is a little too close to home.”

It all began about 6 p.m. south of Everett when deputies attempted to stop a black Volkswagen Jetta. The driver sped away, accompanied by a woman in the car. Traffic was bad in the area so deputies broke off the pursuit. The vehicle was spotted again along Highway 526, and the chase was on again.

“At some point after that, the suspect fired shots at deputies, striking one deputy's patrol vehicle,” Hover said.

Nobody was hit by the bullets, but “he was obviously willing to hurt or kill deputies,” Hover said of the man.

The car chase came to an close minutes later when the suspect crashed on the northbound lanes of I-5 near 41st Street. A woman was injured when her van rolled over on the freeway. She was taken to an Everett hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

While traffic ground to a halt, the fugitive, weapon in hand, reportedly was seen running down the freeway. The woman in the Jetta remained behind and was cooperating with police, Hover said.

Police and emergency crews converged on the area, some trying to untangle the mess on the roadway, dozens of others scouring side streets and back yards for signs of the man.

Early on, police believed the man was at the wheel of a stolen car. Later, they determined the Jetta had an expired license plate. The suspect was wanted, however, on warrants from the state Department of Corrections, Hover said.

“Obviously he has been in trouble with the law before,” she said.

Both directions of I-5 were shut down for hours, triggering traffic jams stretching for miles — on and off the highway.

Police cars began flying into the Lowell and other neighborhoods in the heart of Everett.

Alex Dickey, 16, of Everett was playing basketball at Lowell Park with his headphones on. Suddenly, he noticed police cars screaming by. A woman ran up to him and got his attention.

“I didn't know what was going on, and the lady tells me a guy has a gun,” he said.

About 40 people in the park, including families with children, began sprinting toward their cars, he said.
Neighbors came out of their homes and stared up at the sky, watching helicopters from police and TV stations. A stream of traffic diverted from I-5 began to clog the neighborhood's normally quiet streets.

Lowell resident Kristy Dahl talked into her phone and kept one eye on the mess.

“My mother called me and told me, ‘Get in your house. There is a sniper out there,'” she said.

Nearby, Heather Carlson of Everett was parked with her children, trying to figure out a route to her house in the Madison area. She and her children had been shopping at the outlet mall in Marysville and were almost home when an officer stopped her and made her turn her car around on Broadway.

She asked him if it was safe to head home. She said he told her: “All I know is some guy is shooting.”

Jeff and Marion Wiediger were on their way home from Snohomish toward their house in Lowell. They saw the helicopters and drove to the 41st street interchange to gawk at the empty freeway and the stopped cars. It was unnerving to see police officers toting assault rifles on Broadway, they said.

“It's kind of a shocker,” Jeff Wiediger said. “You don't see that every day.”

Police found the suspect in a wooded area near the New Life Center church. It wasn't immediately clear how he covered the ground from I-5 where he had crashed.

Police said he fled from the accident wearing only one shoe.

After his arrest, the man was taken to the hospital for an exam. He was expected to be booked into the county jail for investigation of numerous offenses, including assault and vehicular assault, Hover said.
The pursuit was the second serious chase involving sheriff's deputies this week.

Three sheriff's office patrol cars were damaged Monday when deputies pursued a stolen delivery van. That chase started in Lynnwood and ended in Seattle when the fleeing driver crashed.

The department's vehicle pursuit policy requires deputies to stop their pursuit “whenever the risks of continuing the operation outweighs the danger to the public if the suspect is not immediately apprehended.”

Herald writer Diana Hefley contributed to this report.