Police shooting that wasn’t: Deputy calms armed confrontation

A woman had called 911. When the deputy arrived, she aimed a revolver at him. But no one got shot.

MARYSVILLE — The deputy stood on a porch with a gun pointed at him. He didn’t fire a shot.

The woman in front of him had called for help. She came to the door with a revolver. Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Christopher Sweeney drew his weapon and took cover. He convinced the armed woman to surrender.

No one was hurt that night.

Sweeney, 26, joined the sheriff’s office in April. He was out on patrol Monday when he received a suspicious call around 8:30 p.m. A Marysville woman, 60, said people were planning to kill her, according to a probable cause affidavit. She told a 911 dispatcher she had pretended to be dead.

Sweeney drove to her home on 27th Avenue NE, just south of the Tulalip Resort Casino. A man was standing outside the trailer. He reportedly told the deputy the woman had been drinking.

Sweeney knocked on the wooden front door and called out, “Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.”

No one answered. He tried again.

He was about to walk around to the back of the trailer when the front door swung open. The woman looked at the deputy, who was standing underneath her porch light. She allegedly shouted “(expletive) you” and aimed a revolver at Sweeney.

The deputy drew his firearm while taking cover. Sweeney feared the woman would shoot him, he said in a report. He yelled as loud as he could, instructing her to drop the gun.

There was silence, and then the woman stepped onto the porch empty-handed. Sweeney came forward to place her in handcuffs. Meanwhile, the woman quickly stepped back toward the home.

Sweeney later found a revolver sitting on a table in the entryway.

A second deputy arrived to lend a hand and together they arrested the woman. Shortly after, a medical problem caused her to fall on the ground. One of the deputies immediately called for an ambulance. Paramedics made sure the woman was all right.

She later was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of second-degree assault and was released the next day.

The woman had no prior criminal history.

Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctomp kins@heraldnet.com.

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