MARYSVILLE — A Tacoma man who reportedly threatened to kill his girlfriend’s child, and dangled the toddler from a two-story window, was shot and killed by a Snohomish County deputy early Friday.
Police say negotiators were unable to persuade the man to surrender, and members of the sheriff’s emergency response team were called in to rescue the 1-year-old boy who had been taken hostage.
"We had to take his threats very seriously," sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said. "It was life and death for this child."
Police were called shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday to a duplex in the 6300 block of 73rd Place NE. Latawnya Jones, 25, reported that her boyfriend, Cory A. Edmon, 27, refused to leave her home. He was armed with a knife and was banging on the door, police said.
Before officers arrived, Edmon kicked in the door and took Jones’ son hostage, Jorgensen said. The woman, who is pregnant with Edmon’s child, was able to escape without injury.
Marysville hostage negotiators tried for more than an hour to persuade the man to release the child and surrender, according to a police statement.
The situation escalated when Jones dangled the boy from a second-story window and continued to threaten the 1-year-old, Jorgensen said. Shortly after midnight, deputies stormed the duplex.
Deputies rescued the child, and one deputy shot Edmon, who died in the house. Jorgensen would not say how many shots were fired or where Edmon was hit. She also wouldn’t say what transpired inside the apartment that led to the shooting.
Jones told The Herald that she doesn’t believe police were right to shoot her boyfriend. "I don’t think he would have hurt my baby," she said. "The police took it too far. They didn’t have to kill him."
Jones didn’t see Edmon dangle her son from the window, but said she believed he would have killed himself before hurting her son.
The child was treated for minor scratches by paramedics.
"Cory was not a bad guy. He didn’t deserve to die," Jones said. "I just wanted him to leave. I never knew they would shoot him."
Court documents show Edmon was arrested a week ago for domestic violence at the same duplex. His arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday in Marysville Municipal Court.
Jones said she didn’t know why he was angry and refused to leave.
The Snohomish County Multi-Agency Response Team is investigating the shooting. The team is called in whenever officers are involved in a shooting, Everett Sgt. Boyd Bryant said. Everett is leading the investigation.
The deputy, who has been with the sheriff’s office for seven years, is on paid administrative leaving pending the outcome of the investigation. That is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings, Jorgensen said.
The last fatal shooting in the county involving an officer was June 24, when members of the Monroe Police Department’s emergency response team shot and killed fugitive Harold McCord Jr.
McCord, who was facing life in prison under the state’s three-strikes law, had escaped from Pierce County Courthouse in Tacoma the day before by brandishing a fake gun. King County Executive Ron Sims has ordered an inquest into that shooting because McCord died at a Seattle hospital.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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