Please see the updated version of this story.
————————-
MARYSVILLE — A Marysville police sergeant and a suspect were injured after gunfire targeted police in Granite Falls, Lake Stevens and Marysville on Wednesday evening.
No details were immediately available about the nature and extent of injuries, but both men were expected to live.
The police officer, a 19-year veteran of the department, was treated and released at an area hospital, said Shari Ireton, spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect, a Granite Falls man, 43, also was taken to the hospital. He was expected to survive his injuries, Ireton said.
Dozens of gunshots were heard in Marysville just after 10 p.m.
Annie Fitzgerald and Chris Tracey were playing video games in their second-floor apartment in the Sogge building when they heard gunfire.
“We heard pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, like 10 shots” maybe more, Fitzgerald said.
“There was definitely gunfire going both directions,” Tracey said.
Police converged on a pickup truck.
The pair watched officers approach the truck, hollering for somebody to get on the ground.
“It just scared the hell out of me,” Fitzgerald said.
Natasha Huestis was studying for a college class at a nearby Marysville home when she heard the gunfire. She initially assumed it was the TV in the other room where her boyfriend was watching “Sons of Anarchy.”
“Those TV shows can seem so real,” she said.
She called a firefighter friend she knew was listening to the scanner.
“The fire guy said ‘Stay inside and lock all the doors,’” she said.
Marysville officers encountered the suspect on 64th Avenue NE around 10:10 p.m., Ireton said.
The suspect stopped and fired several shots. He then got back into the truck and drove west on 67th Avenue NE, slowing to fire more shots near Grove Elementary School.
The suspect drove off and stopped near the intersection of 51st Avenue NE and Grove Street, where he again stopped, Ireton said.
More shots were fired.
The suspect obeyed officer commands to get out of the vehicle and at some point officers said they saw him tossing out a rifle. Several firearms were found in or near the truck, Ireton said.
That gunfire followed an unmanned police patrol car being shot up at the Granite Falls Police Department about 9:15 p.m., Ireton said. No one was injured. Witnesses reported the gunfire came from somebody in truck.
About 9:45 p.m. shots were fired at the Lake Stevens Police Department, striking the building, police vehicles and a reader board.
Nobody was injured in either of those incidents.
The shootings are being investigated by the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, a special group of detectives who examine incidents where police use deadly force.
Police said they still were investigating if all of the gunfire is releated.
Grove Street from the 6700 block to the 5100 block was expected to be closed throughout the morning as police continue to investigate, Ireton said. People were urged to avoid the area.
This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
