Extensive hunt for Granite Falls burglar is called off

Published 5:00 pm Monday, October 5, 2009

GRANITE FALLS – Sheriff’s officials have called off the search near Granite Falls for a burglary suspect who fired a gunshot at a sheriff’s deputy late Sunday night.

Police, SWAT teams and helicopters searched all day but came up empty handed.

Deputies will patrol the area on Menzel Lake Road near where a burglary was reported Sunday, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.

A homeowner in the 21200 block of Menzel Lake Road called 911 around 8 p.m. Sunday to report a break-in, Hover said.

No one was hurt by the gunfire Sunday, but authorities were alarmed, Hover said.

“This person was obviously willing to fire on deputies,” she said. “That raises a public safety concern right there.”

Items to meet basic needs, including shoes and blankets were missing. Deputies arrived and used a police dog to track the suspect.

Deputies found a stash of the stolen items in the woods. While they were investigating, a shot rang out, Hover said.

“That took it up several notches,” she said.

A SWAT team was summoned and a police helicopter launched.

Police teams from the sheriff’s office, Marysville and Everett were in Granite Falls on Monday.

The burglary was reported not far from where a stolen plane, which had crash-lnaded, was discovered Thursday in the woods.

Authorities believe serial burglar Colton Harris-Moore, 18, may be responsible for taking the plane from an Idaho airport.

Harris-Moore is a suspect in dozens of burglaries near his mother’s home on south Camano Island and is suspected of stealing two planes from the San Juan Islands.

Hover said detectives do not know who is responsible for stealing the plane or Sunday night’s burglary.

“They’re two separate cases,” she said.

Police blocked off Menzel Lake Road during the investigation but reopened the road around 4 p.m.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security Blackhawk helicopter hovered over the area using sophisticated electronics as part of the manhunt.

The sheriff’s helicopter’s heat-seeking gear wasn’t able to penetrate the tree cover to see a suspect, she said. That’s why the federal helicopter joined the search effort.

Homeowners can help police by taking some simple measures to protect their property, Hover said.

“We continue to encourage people to keep the doors to their homes, outbuildings and vehicles locked at all times,” she said.