GREENWATER – A 10-year-old Auburn boy was killed while target shooting with his father on Sunday near Mount Rainier, the Pierce County Sheriff’s office said.
“The boy was downrange setting up some targets. I don’t know how large the targets were, but the father assumed that the boy had returned and he fired one shot, heard the boy scream and then found his son,” sheriff’s Cmdr. Rick Adamson said.
The boy was hit in the chest with a round from a .45-caliber handgun between 12 and 12:30 p.m., Adamson said. His father, 39, performed CPR, and the boy was taken to a Greenwater fire station. He was flown from there to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, arriving at 1:01 p.m. The boy was pronounced dead at 1:24 p.m., Adamson said.
The distraught father had to be sedated at the fire station. He was taken to Enumclaw Community Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
Police seized weapons from the scene. No immediate arrest was planned, Adamson said. Pierce County prosecutors will determine whether charges will be filed.
Man sentenced in 1995 killing: A Tacoma man has been sentenced to 31 1/2years in prison for the 1995 slaying of a former friend and business partner. Lawrence Shandola, 49, was given the maximum sentence for first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. A Pierce County Superior Court jury convicted him in July of killing Robert Henry. Prosecutors say Shandola was the masked gunman who shot Henry in the parking lot of North Coast Electric Co., where Henry was an executive, on Sept. 11, 1995. This year, police linked Shandola to a shotgun believed to have been used in the killing. Shandola insists he is innocent. His attorneys say they plan to appeal the conviction. Judge James Orlando ordered Shandola to have no contact with Henry’s widow, Paula, and other family members, who have accused him of harassing them.
Body of fallen climber recovered: The body of a climber who fell 600 feet to his death was recovered on Sunday. The man, identified as 23-year-old Chad Engstrom of Richland, was climbing with his uncle on Saturday when he fell from Chair Peak near the Alpental Ski Area, near Snoqualmie Pass. Engstrom’s uncle had stopped lower down when the climb became too difficult for him, King County sheriff’s deputy Pete Sheridan said. Engstrom kept climbing, then fell down the 45-degree rock face. A search team hiked up on Sunday morning and carried Engstrom’s body to a location where a helicopter could reach it.
Woman survives car’s plunge off highway: A woman survived after her car plunged almost 500 feet off a mountain road. The 20-year-old Vernon, British Columbia, resident was driving on the Trans-Canada Highway just east of the Rogers Pass summit in Glacier National Park on Saturday when her Toyota station wagon crashed over a steep embankment. The car crashed through the trees and rolled over several times before coming to a rest, upright and facing back up the 40-degree slope about 495 feet below the highway. Two truck drivers who saw the accident called for help and scrambled down the slope. Rescue workers used the jaws of life to get to the woman, who was airlifted to hospital in Golden, British Columbia. She received stitches and was kept overnight for observation.
Police make $1.5 million pot bust: Police have seized 700 marijuana plants worth an estimated $1.5 million. Police broke down the door of an east Vancouver warehouse Saturday morning to find row upon row of mature marijuana plants that appeared to be days away from being harvested. It was one of the largest pot busts in the city, a detective said. Police arrested four men and a teen-ager found inside the warehouse. Another man was arrested as he was trying to drive away.
Woman shot at juvenile center, then man kills self: A female psychiatric worker who had obtained a restraining order against an alleged stalker was held hostage by the man in her workplace for more than an hour Sunday before he fatally shot her and then himself, police said. The man trailed the woman, 56, as she entered the Coeur D’alene juvenile psychiatric facility. He forced his way in with handgun drawn about 2:20 p.m., police said. A standoff ensued, and police evacuated 11 staff members and 34 young patients from the North Idaho Behavioral Health building. At 3:30 p.m., seven shots were fired, and police entered to find the woman and man dead about eight feet inside the entrance, KREM-TV in Spokane reported. Family members said the woman had worked with the man at a retirement home and had later taken out a restraining order against him, the station said.
From Herald news services
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