Suspect hospitalized after gun battle with police in Marysville

MARYSVILLE — In roughly an hour’s time Wednesday night, dispatchers received 30 reports of gunfire from Granite Falls, Lake Stevens and Marysville.

Businesses, patrol cars and police stations were riddled with dozens of bullets.

Detectives believe all are related to the movements of one man in a white extended-cab pickup truck whose trail of destruction covered more than 15 miles and an untold amount of spent ammunition.

Near the end, two Marysville police officers fired shots at the Granite Falls man who eventually surrendered and was taken to a local hospital with undisclosed injuries. Hans Hansen, 43, is expected to survive.

Also injured was Marysville police Sgt. James Maples. Medical experts were trying to confirm the exact cause of his injuries Thursday, officials said. Maples, a 19-year veteran of the department, was released from Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.

“This was an extremely volatile situation that could have easily ended tragically,” Marysville Police Chief Richard Smith said.

Smith was relieved that no one else was injured as a result of the gunfire.

“All of our officers are doing well given the circumstances,” he said. “I am very proud of my officers and their response and courage exhibited during this event.”

Beneath sunny blue skies Thursday, detectives renewed what is expected to be a long and complex investigation with at least five potential crime scenes. They searched for bullets and casings, interviewed witnesses and gathered evidence.

The suspect’s white Ford pickup truck was towed to the police impound lot around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. It will be combed for evidence. Three bullet holes through the windshield could be seen from the street. On the back window were several decals. One read “Meet My Family” and featured drawings of different firearms. Another simply said: “Go Hawks.” If investigators knew the suspect’s motive Thursday, they weren’t saying.

Nor were they formally identifying Hansen until he has been medically cleared to be booked into the Snohomish County Jail on what likely will be allegations of drive-by shooting and first-degree assault with a weapon.

Snohomish County dispatchers received the flurry of 911 calls between 9:15 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Wednesday. They came from Granite Falls, Lake Stevens and Marysville.

The two Marysville police officers who fired their weapons during the chaos were placed on administrative leave, in keeping with department policy. Their names have not been released. One has been with the agency for five years and the other for three and a half.

The shootings are being investigated by the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, a specially trained group of detectives from several different departments who examine incidents in which police use deadly force.

With multiple crime scenes and the sheer number of shots fired, the investigation could take weeks, said Shari Ireton, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman handling media questions for the multi-agency team of detectives.

The rampage likely started at a sheet metal business in the 10700 block of the Mountain Loop Highway. Kim Caldart lives nearby and heard what sounded like gunshots. A neighbor heard them, too. That’s when Caldart called 911.

Police showed up at the business and were there for at least half an hour while she stayed in touch with her neighbor.

“We didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “We just heard these gunshots and thought ‘Oh, no.’ ”

At least two bullets hit the storage facility next door.

She heard from Harry Wood, who owns the sheet metal business, that shots started on his property and ripped through the walls to hit the storage facility.

Wood said no one was in the building at the time, and it was locked for the night. The shots were fired from outside and went straight through both walls. He estimated that there were at least 20 bullet holes in his building.

“Luckily no one was in there or someone would have gotten hurt,” Wood said.

Within minutes, around 9:15 p.m., an unmanned police patrol car was shot up at the Granite Falls Police Department. No one was injured. Witnesses reported the gunfire came from somebody in a truck.

Next on the shooter’s route was the Lake Stevens Police Department, which was hit around 9:45 p.m.

Police there estimated that roughly two dozen shots were fired into their building, two empty patrol cars, an animal control vehicle and the city’s electronic reader board.

The bullets shattered windows and flattened tires. One bullet struck an electric outlet inside the building and tripped a breaker, shutting down some computers.

“We have no idea how many shots were actually fired,” Lake Stevens police Cmdr. Dennis Taylor said. Other bullets could have ended up in the nearby woods.

The police department was empty during the shooting. Lake Stevens officers heard the calls about the shots fired in Granite Falls and headed east.

“That was very fortunate,” Taylor said. “Everyone left the building to go to Granite.”

Within minutes, bullets peppered Lake Stevens police headquarters, including multiple rounds that hit the office of the police chief.

Just after 10 p.m., dozens of gunshots were reported in Marysville.

Annie Fitzgerald and Chris Tracey were playing video games in their second-floor apartment in the Sogge building when they heard gunfire off Grove Street.

“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 at police 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.

Then he reportedly tossed the rifle out of the truck window and obeyed officer commands to get out of the vehicle.

He was arrested and taken to Providence Regional Medical Center. Several firearms were found in or near the truck, Ireton said.

Also Wednesday night, Granite Falls Police Chief David Bowman crashed after suffering an apparent medical problem while driving to one of the shooting scenes. Washington State Patrol reported that Bowman, 45, was driving south on I-5 between Stanwood and Arlington in a construction zone when he suffered “an unknown medical condition.”

His pickup truck swerved and struck the concrete barrier several times before stopping in the median.

He was taken to a local hospital. The Associated Press reported that he was released from Skagit Valley Hospital on Thursday morning.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

Time line of gun battle

9:15 p.m. Wednesday: Shots were fired into two businesses in the 10700 block of Mountain Loop Highway, the Granite Falls Police Department, 205 S. Granite Ave., and an unmanned Granite Falls patrol vehicle. A witness reports the shooter is a man in a white pickup with a brown bed.

9:45 p.m.: Roughly two dozen shots were fired at the Lake Stevens Police Department, 2211 Grade Road, hitting two police cars, an animal control vehicle and the city’s electronic reader board. No one was inside the building at the time.

10:10 p.m.: Reports of shots fired in three parts of Marysville within minutes of each other. Police stopped the suspect’s vehicle on 64th Avenue, leading to gunfire. The pickup slowed near Grove Elementary School, 6510 Grove St., where more shots were fired. The truck stopped again at 51st Avenue NE and Grove Street where more shots were fired before he surrendered. A Marysville police sergeant and the suspect were injured.