Special task force called to investigate deputy-involved shooting

Published 5:35 pm Monday, September 28, 2009

LAKE STEVENS — A special task force of homicide detectives trained to investigate killings by police was called Thursday night to Lake Stevens after a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy reportedly shot and killed a man at the truck scales off Highway 9.

The shooting came after police were alerted to somebody driving erratically in the area, Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.

The deputy was flagged down by another motorist who reported somebody driving in an unsafe manner, said Goetz, part of the Snohomish County Multi-Agency Response Team or SMART.

The deputy investigated, there was some type of altercation and the shooting occurred around 9 p.m. at the weigh station off Highway 9 near Soper Hill Road north of Lake Stevens.

Firefighters tried to administer first aid and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, Goetz said. The age and hometown of the man who was shot were not immediately available. He had been driving a white pickup truck.

The sheriff’s deputy, 33, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, Goetz said. Police were investigating the circumstances that led to Thursday’s gunfire.

“There was a handgun located at the scene that was not the deputy’s,” Goetz said.

The deputy has been with the sheriff’s office for about two years and has previous law enforcement experience, Goetz said.

Since November, Snohomish County law officers have been involved in four other shootings, each ending in death. The cases remain under investigation.