A high-speed police chase involving carjackers ended with gunshots outside the Everett Mall and a shopping center near Mill Creek.
Some frightened shoppers hid. Others fled while police ran through stores warning people to get down or get out, witnesses said.
One suspect was shot multiple times at the Fred Meyer store on the Bothell-Everett Highway. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with what police described as non-life-threatening injuries.
A second suspect was taken into custody near the Everett Mall after police used stun guns to subdue him, witnesses reported.
The chase lasted an hour and involved at least two vehicles stolen at gunpoint. Along the way, the men triggered several accidents including one that caused injuries, said Rebecca Hover, a Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman.
“The two individuals caused quite a bit of fear. We are glad to be able to get them both and have them off the streets,” Hover said.
Both men likely will be booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of multiple felonies.
The Snohomish Multi-Agency Response Team, a regional law enforcement unit used after incidents involving police shootings, was scrambled to manage the wide-reaching investigation, Hover said.
The chase stretched across Snohomish County from Lake Stevens toward Mill Creek. Much of the action was in and around Everett.
It started when Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies asked officers countywide to keep an eye out for the pair in connection with a car prowl.
Around 4:25 p.m., Lake Stevens officers spotted the men’s truck in the 1700 block of 95th Avenue SE, Lake Stevens police Sgt. Ron Brooks said.
The truck fled as police approached, racing through rush-hour traffic at speeds up to 100 mph, and even driving the wrong way on crowded streets. Police called off the pursuit for safety reasons, Brooks said.
The truck continued its escape, but collided with a silver Mazda3 sedan at the east end of the westbound U.S. 2 trestle, Brooks said.
The two men pulled a gun on the Mazda driver, forced her out of the car, jumped in and drove off toward Everett, Hover said.
It took about almost an hour for police to catch up with them.
A sheriff’s deputy spotted the stolen Mazda in south Everett and tried to pull it over. Again the men raced off, leading police to the Everett Mall parking lot.
Brooke Maahs, 14, of Everett, said she and her grandmother were driving to the Everett Mall when the Mazda sped past toward the food court entrance.
Minutes later, Maahs saw a man holding a gun race out of the mall near Regal Cinemas.
A Snohomish County sheriff’s lieutenant fired a single shot, Hover said. It was unclear Friday whether the officer shot in order to stop one of the fleeing men from stealing a green Dodge Ram pickup truck at gunpoint.
Jeff Sonsteng, 18, of Everett, said he was walking across the mall parking lot toward Regal Cinema when he heard gunfire.
A man in a white shirt and a red hat knocked him to the pavement, apparently trying to protect him.
“I was freaking out. I heard gunshots really close to me,” he said.
Hover said she did not know if the suspects ever fired a weapon. A handgun was recovered later.
Josh Cuger, 22, lives in the Trailside Village apartments near the mall.
He said he saw people running from the mall and watched a man hop into a Ford pickup truck.
The man drove to a construction site near Cuger’s apartment complex, trailed by police. The man jumped from the truck and tried to run.
“The police had Tasers and they Tased him,” Cuger said.
Everett police followed the other man in the Dodge pickup truck south toward the Fred Meyer.
Police were able to use spike strips to puncture the truck’s tires and slow it down.
Kelly Thompson, of Mill Creek, an emergency room nurse who’s worked in California, was driving home along the Bothell-Everett Highway when she saw the truck swerving in and out of traffic being chased by numerous police cars.
Thompson said she pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot. As she left her car, Thompson said she heard gunshots.
“Bam, bam, bam,” she recalled. “I felt like I was back in L.A.”
The gunfire erupted after the man crashed the Dodge pickup truck in the Fred Meyer parking lot and ran inside the store.
Everett police surrounded the store, Hover said. The suspect came out the back and was ordered to stop.
An Everett police sergeant confronted the man and several shots were fired, Hover said.
Hillary Walker was inside the Washington Mutual in Fred Meyer with her son, 11 months, and daughter, 15, when they saw a man run through the store and heard someone else yell about a gun.
She lay down and used her body to cover her son, Ashton, and the family crept as far back into the safety of the bank as possible.
“We were so shaken up,” Walker said.
A short time later, someone ordered them to run out of the store.
Lynnette Fortier of Everett was at the Fred Meyer with her sons, 5 and 3 years old, shopping for orange juice.
As they were leaving the store, they saw a man run past them. Police were behind him, yelling “he’s got a gun,” Fortier said.
The family ran toward the pharmacy and locked themselves in the bathroom with six other people. The group propped a crutch against the door.
“I was scared to death,” Fortier said. “I had no idea what was going on.”
A few minutes later, police came and opened the door and told everyone to run out of the store.
After the suspect was shot, a SWAT team swept through the shopping center looking for evidence.
Fred Meyer was closed for the night after the incident, Hover said.
The Everett sergeant and the Snohomish County lieutenant who fired their weapons were both placed on paid leave, standard procedure after a shooting, Hover said.
It will take police time to sort through all the evidence, Hover said. Police were planning to work through the night.
No information about the suspects’ ages or hometowns was immediately released.
Herald reporters Jeff Switzer, Jordan Stalker and Jim Haley contributed to this story.
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