Seattle police shoot gunman holding hostage

Published 9:00 pm Monday, January 7, 2002

SEATTLE — An armed man who held another man hostage as a human shield while trying to flee from police was shot to death in front of a drugstore near a busy intersection, officers said.

The man was carrying only a pellet gun, but the gun was so similar to a lethal weapon that police could not tell the difference, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said Monday.

A 30-year-old officer with eight years on the force fired once from a special assault rifle as the man appeared to be reaching for his gun Sunday night in the University District, officer Duane Fish said.

The man was hit in the face and was pronounced dead at Harborview Medical Center. The hostage was not injured. The officer was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

The episode began at 7:25 p.m. Sunday when a woman called 911 and said she had seen a man who appeared to be drunk or agitated and was wearing a gun in his waistband as he approached a coffee shop, Fish said.

When officers arrived, he fled, then grabbed another man from a pay phone around 45th Avenue and University Way and used him to shield himself from officers.

The shooting occurred outside a nearby pharmacy.

Washington

Supreme Court refuses to hear lawsuit against Navy: The Supreme Court refused Monday to revive a lawsuit against the Navy over a holiday rafting accident that involved the deaths of two sailors from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, turning back a challenge to far-reaching limits on military lawsuits. Soldiers and their families cannot sue over such things as war injuries and training accidents. Under the Supreme Court’s 1950 interpretation of the ban, the government has virtually total immunity when a service member dies or is injured. This case involves the deaths of two off-duty enlisted men while on a recreational outing. The families of Nollie P. Costo, 29, and Christopher J. Graham, 20, contend that the Navy, which organized the rafting trip, was negligent.

Tacoma

Work to restore dioxin-laden site will begin in June: Work to clean up the worst dioxin contamination in Commencement Bay will begin in June and should be completed by fall, city and federal officials say. The city is expected to spend $2.5 million to rehabilitate the 10 acres of state-owned tidelands between the mouths of the Foss and Middle waterways, said John O’Loughlin, natural resource-damages project manager. Dioxin is an industrial byproduct that may cause cancer. The site, which is also contaminated with other toxins and dangerous metals, nonetheless features some of the last eel-grass beds in the bay. Cleanup will involve removal of about 7,000 cubic yards of material, O’Loughlin said. All the work will be done at low tide. Environmental activists were pleased with the plan.

Olympia

Congress, Legislature OK vets’ nursing home: A new 240-bed nursing home for military veterans is in the works near Port Orchard on the Kitsap Peninsula. Congress and the state Legislature have approved $47.5 million to build the facility, and President Bush and Gov. Gary Locke have signed off on the funding. "We’re awaiting only a letter authorizing the grant," said John Lee, deputy director of the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs. "The veterans, their families and the community should know that this project is going to happen." The state agency now provides long-term skilled nursing care to about 240 veterans at homes in Retsil and Orting. As many as 290 other veterans get less intensive care. With 648,000 veterans, Washington ranks 13th in the nation for veterans per capita, Lee said.

Spokane

Loaded bus, train used as shield by gunmen: Officers waited until a man armed with an assault rifle left a crowded terminal before shooting him after he allegedly used a loaded train and bus as shields while firing at police, officials said. Jason Allen Graham, 20, of Spokane was under police guard at a Spokane hospital Monday after surgery for a bullet wound in his right thigh, city police spokesman Dick Cottam said. Another man in a car with Graham also was arrested. Jeremiah Justin Jones, also 20, was booked into the Spokane County Jail for investigation of first-degree assault, burglary, possession of a stolen vehicle, and third-degree assault for spitting at a nurse. An estimated 350 passengers were aboard an Amtrak train and three Greyhound buses, in addition to an unknown number of people in the terminal, when the gunman began firing wildly at pursuing officers at about 1:20 a.m. Monday, Cottam said. No one was injured.

Camas

Country singer/songwriter dies: Country music singer/songwriter Bobby Austin, who co-wrote Tammy Wynette’s first single, "Apartment No. 9," has died. He was 68. Austin died at his home after a long illness, a family spokeswoman said. Austin penned "Apartment No. 9" with Johnny Paycheck in 1966, and Austin released it on his album of the same name. The dark, lonely ballad was named song of the year by the Academy of Country Music. Austin also co-wrote "Try a Little Kindness," sung by Glen Campbell. His last hit came in 1972 with "Knoxville Station." Born in Wenatchee on May 4, 1933, Austin moved to Southern California in the mid-1950s. He played bass in Wynn Stewart’s band and moved to Las Vegas before quitting in 1962. Stewart hired Merle Haggard to take his place.

Rochester

Man slain by Lewis County deputy ID’d: A man shot and killed in a confrontation here with a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy has been identified. Allmon Aaron Smith, 31, died late Thursday with three gunshot wounds to the chest. The sheriff’s office says deputy Harold Sprouse, a 21-year law-enforcement veteran, has been placed on administrative leave, standard procedure in officer-involved shootings. Thurston County deputies have been asked to investigate. "All indications are at this time it’s justifiable homicide, self-defense," Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson said Friday.