Investigation details fatal shooting of troubled gunman in Lake Stevens in 2009

LAKE STEVENS — Lake Stevens police Officer Jerad Wachtveitl heard screams coming from the house.

Neighbors yelled at the officer to do something. They said a man had gone crazy and was going to kill someone. The officer knew John LaBossiere had kicked in the door and forced his way insi

de. Wachtveitl was told LaBossiere usually carried a gun. The officer knew there were women and children in the house.

Wachtveitl heard crashing sounds and could see LaBossiere swinging something but couldn’t see what he was hitting. He and fellow Lake Stevens police Officer James Barnes quic

kly planned how they’d enter. Wachtveitl would have his gun drawn. Barnes would have his stun gun ready.

Wachtveitl told investigators that it was the absence of screaming as he neared the house that worried him most.

“I knew the screaming had since stopped and my opinion (was) that something very bad was going on inside the house. (That) is when I told Jim we can’t wait. We gotta go,” Wachtveitl told investigators.

Wachtveitl shot and killed LaBossiere inside the house on Nov. 1, 2009. That was just a few months after a troubled LaBossiere had returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq. The officers told homicide detectives that LaBossiere, 26, drew a pistol and aimed the gun at Wachtveitl. Wachtveitl fired three times. One bullet struck LaBossiere in the head.

A special team of homicide detectives has finished its investigation into the shooting. The case has been forwarded to Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe. He will decide if the shooting was legally justified or if any criminal charges should be filed.

The Herald recently obtained a copy of the 1,000-page investigation. Released under state public record laws, the file includes dozens of interviews, crime scene photographs and diagrams and transcripts of 911 calls.

The documents detail the troubles LaBossiere had before he entered the military in 2002. They also paint a picture of a young man who struggled after returning home.

LaBossiere’s parents told investigators that ther son had had anger issues since childhood and later developed a drinking problem. He had vandalized their home and made threats that concerned them enough to call police.

LaBossiere had enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2002 and was twice deployed to Iraq. He expected to be on the front lines but ended up working a support job that he described as boring. He married his wife in 2003 and left the Marines in 2006. He and his wife moved into his parents’ rental home in Everett.

LaBossiere struggled to make ends meet. His parents told investigators that their son was drinking heavily. He damaged the rental home, punching and kicking holes in the walls when he was angry.

Two years later he joined the Army National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2008. He returned home at the end of the summer of 2009. His problems were waiting for him.

“He was disillusioned, and things were hard for him to handle,” his father, Phil LaBossiere, said Thursday. “These returning Guardsmen need to be debriefed longer and should be made to go to counseling. They need to keep these guys under their care for a couple of months when they return.”

John LaBossiere had trouble finding work. His family said LaBossiere was again drinking heavily. Some of his friends were concerned enough about his behavior that they suggested he see a counselor or reach out to a veterans group. LaBossiere said that was for “old Vietnam vets,” not him.

He separated from his wife within days of his return and his marriage appeared to be ending. His wife and their three young children were living with a friend in Lake Stevens. LaBossiere was staying with his aunt and uncle in Brier.

A few weeks before the shooting the couple agreed to try to work things out. Two days before the shooting they went out to dinner together. The next day they went to a Halloween party. Witnesses told police that LaBossiere was drunk and talked about crashing his vehicle and making police shoot him. He had talked of suicide before when he was drinking, his wife said.

The next day LaBossiere and his wife drove around looking at houses for sale. She told investigators that when LaBossiere took her home, she told him that their marriage wasn’t going to work out. He called her a few hours later and seemed fine, she said.

He told his aunt and uncle about his troubles and later left the house. He went to his sister in-law’s house in Mountlake Terrace to pick up a jacket. A witness described LaBossiere as somber and down and had said that his marriage was ending.

From there, investigators believe that LaBossiere drove north on I-5 to Lake Stevens. Emergency dispatchers received several calls about a suspected drunken driver who hit a barrier and kept driving. The vehicle was registered to LaBossiere. Tests would later show that LaBossiere’s blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit when he died.

Just before 8 p.m., emergency dispatchers received a call from a woman in Lake Stevens. The woman reported that LaBossiere was at her door, demanding to speak with his wife and refusing to leave.

Phone records show that LaBossiere called his wife’s phone 25 times in the 26 minutes leading up to the shooting.

He threatened to kick in the door. The sound of someone kicking a door can be heard on the tape of the 911 call. The woman reported that she and LaBossiere’s wife and the children were going to lock themselves in the master bedroom.

A couple of minutes later, the dispatcher heard someone kicking a door and screams from the women and children. LaBossiere had forced his way into the bedroom. The women and children had locked themselves in the bathroom.

The dispatcher heard more yelling. The caller told the dispatcher that LaBossiere had a gun. LaBossiere’s wife later told detectives that when she peeked out from the bathroom door, he pointed the gun at her.

LaBossiere went downstairs and began breaking things. That’s when Wachtveitl and Barnes arrived. They made their plan to go inside. Wachtveitl was the first through the door and yelled, “Police. Let me see your hands.” The officers said LaBossiere came toward them as he reached for something on his hip.

Wachtveitl told investigators he remembered that LaBossiere had a “1,000-yard stare.” He said he thought LaBossiere’s intention was to draw a weapon and try to kill the officers.

Wachtveitl said he shot LaBossiere as the man pointed his handgun at him. LaBossiere fell to the dining room floor, mortally wounded.

His wife and three children were still upstairs. Police found them cowering on the bathroom floor.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.