BELFAIR — A man has died in a house fire after barricading himself in the home near Belfair in Mason County and firing shots at sheriff’s deputies.
KOMO-TV reported that sheriff’s deputies said the man set the fire himself Sunday morning in a woman’s house.
Deputies received a report at about 8:25 a.m. of a man assaulting the woman with a weapon in a rural area near Belfair.
Sheriff’s spokesman Dean Byrd said the woman escaped and ran to the home of a neighbor, who called 911. Byrd said the woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in critical condition with blunt force injuries.
Meanwhile, the man barricaded himself inside the house. According to Byrd, deputies ordered the man to come out of the house, but he refused. The suspect then fired several shots at deputies.
Officers did not return fire. Instead they responded by firing gas canisters inside the home as the standoff continued for about three hours. Sometime before 11:30 a.m., the man set fire to the house. Smoke and flames began pouring from the residence.
After the flames were extinguished, the man’s body was found inside the house.
Witnesses say the man knew the woman, but was not a family member.
The identities of the man and woman were not immediately available.
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