News that a third-strike felon had escaped from a Pierce County courtroom with the aid of a paper gun had barely made its way up here when the story ended up in our backyard.
By the time Tuesday afternoon’s gun battle in Monroe was all over, Harold McCord Jr. was dead and Monroe Police Sgt. Ed Jany was wounded. While the details of this particular story fall into the category of the unusual, the risk law enforcement officers take every day in our communities are anything but unusual.
It doesn’t take an escaped felon to pose a threat to police who are called out to quell many disturbances a day. Just because most of us never hear the frightening details and close calls on a single patrol shift, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
For years, officers have been telling the press and the public that domestic violence calls are some of the most dangerous ones they encounter. Even a traffic stop can be deadly, as was the case in the October 1999 shooting death of Washington State Patrol Trooper James Saunders.
It’s easy to forget how dangerous the job is until tragedy strikes. Fortunately, Sgt. Jany is doing well.
It’s also easy to think things like this still can’t happen in our communities. But as Monroe Sgt. Carlos Martinez said, the city is growing and officers are going to see more "big-city crimes."
"I tell my guys every day, you could get shot," Martinez told reporters.
In addition to being grateful Tuesday’s shooting didn’t result in the death of an officer, this is also a good time to recognize the cooperation between Monroe and Bothell police officers, who were acting on a tip provided by Pierce County sheriff’s investigators. The apartment complex where this strange incident unfolded could have been the scene of a much different story. Officers and residents deserve credit for moving quickly to get everyone inside and out of harm’s way, especially the children who were making the best of a nice day outside.
Until Tuesday, it had been nine years since an officer was shot in Snohomish County. In that shooting, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Kinard was killed. The impact on our county is still felt to this day. In fact, it’s hard to believe it has been nine years.
We don’t hear about most of the close calls our law officers encounter, but that’s no excuse to overlook the difficult job they do every day.
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