Testimony begins in Granite Falls man’s shooting spree case

EVERETT — The Marysville patrol officer felt under siege.

Bullets pierced his windshield.

When he opened his door, the window was shattered by gunfire.

When he flipped on a side spotlight to try to blind the shooter’s vision, it too was shot out.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” officer James Tolbert recalled thinking. He testified Tuesday in the trial of Hans Hansen, a Granite Falls area man charged with 11 felonies, including two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

His attorney has said Hansen never intended to hurt officers. Hansen, 44, has been held without bail since his arrest Oct. 15, 2014, after opening fire on police.

Hansen allegedly first shot up a Granite Falls building belonging to a man whom he blamed for his business getting evicted.

Emergency dispatchers then received word that someone had shot up a police car outside the Granite Falls police station. Rounds also hit the building. Minutes later the Lake Stevens police station took gunfire. Patrol cars and other vehicles parked outside were struck.

Marysville officers, anticipating their city could be next, tried to head him off by waiting for the shooter at roads leading into the city.

It was in a neighborhood off of 64th Street in Marysville where Hansen repeatedly shot at Tolbert’s patrol car.

The driver’s door opened and there was a flash of gunfire, Tolbert said. In sometimes emotional testimony, the officer told the jury that he suspected Hansen was tracking his movements.

Tolbert eventually slid out of his patrol car and took refuge behind a truck. Hansen drove off, and Tolbert checked on his sergeant, James Maples, who had been shot in the leg.

Tolbert never fired a round. He never had the chance.

“Would you have if you had the opportunity?” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler asked.

“One hundred percent,” Tolbert said.

Tolbert was the first witness to testify after the jury was chosen.

In opening arguments, Stemler told jurors they would hear from one detective who would describe the 18 rounds shot into one patrol car. They’ll also hear from people in neighborhoods whose cars and homes were shot.

Defense attorney Jon Scott acknowledged his client was responsible for the gunfire, but said Hansen wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He’d been in a downward spiral for some time. He was depressed, suffering from medical problems and drinking heavily.

“His intent that night was not to harm anyone but himself,” Scott told the jury. But because of his client’s religious beliefs, he couldn’t commit suicide.

The shooting spree ended when a police officer shot Hansen in the head. The bullet didn’t pierce his skull and he wasn’t seriously injured.

When detectives interviewed him at the hospital, they asked if there was anything they could do for him. “He said, ‘Shoot me,’ ” Scott said.

Scott North contributed to this story.

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