By Cathy Logg and Sharon Salyer
Herald Writers
EVERETT — A 22-year-old Everett man was in serious condition Sunday evening after being shot when he allegedly confronted two police officers in the street minutes after they arrived at the scene of a domestic disturbance.
The injured man, identified by neighbors as Justin Chase, was taken to Providence Everett Medical Center’s Colby Campus where he was treated for a bullet wound to his chest. His condition was upgraded from critical to serious Sunday afternoon.
The shooting occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday in the 2200 block of Lombard Avenue. Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant said the man was armed with a shotgun and was wounded in the upper torso after multiple shots were fired. He was the only person injured during the confrontation.
"It was a very scary situation," Bryant said. "It was a very emotional scene. … The whole thing transpired in a total of about four minutes" from the time police were dispatched.
The two officers involved in the shooting, a 10-year veteran and an officer in training, have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure pending the investigation, Bryant said.
The shooting is being investigated by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. "That’s to assure objectivity in any officer-involved shooting involving serious injury," Bryant said.
The two officers arrived about a minute after a 911 emergency call regarding a disturbance and a woman screaming in the street, Bryant said. One person who called 911 said someone at the scene was armed.
Bryant said when the two officers arrived, they were confronted in the street by a man with a shotgun.
Neighbors said the couple involved in the incident had been married for a few months.
Bill Howard, who lives across the street, said he heard a woman screaming but couldn’t hear what was being said. "It happened that quick," he said.
Rob Davis, who lives on the opposite side of the street and the other end of the block, was showing his two younger brothers, Cyrus and Sol Davis, a building he owns. As they came out of the building, "We heard two pops," Rob Davis said.
They walked up the street and saw two officers with flashlights and a man on the ground.
"He had a shotgun right next to him," Davis said, describing the weapon he saw on the ground as a pistol-grip assault shotgun.
Davis said he saw what he believed was an ammunition clip for a rifle among the man’s belongings.
A police officer appeared to be crying and another officer was comforting him, patting him on the shoulder, he said.
The most recent Everett officer-involved shooting in which anyone was injured was February 1990, when Officer Greg Lineberry and now-retired Officer Jerry Mathis were wounded by a despondent man who repeatedly shot at police before killing himself. Both officers suffered superficial wounds. A bystander who also was hit by a bullet suffered the most serious injuries.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437
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