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News / Northwest

Police: Shot Lakewood man was ‘pointing’ cellphone

Interim chief says officers thought victim was holding a gun

The Columbian
Published: May 11, 2015, 5:00pm
2 Photos
Photos by Ted S.
Photos by Ted S. Warren/Associated Press Marilyn Covarrubias, left, the mother of Daniel Covarrubias, covers her face while talking to reporters Monday outside police headquarters in Lakewood. At right is Lanna Covarrubias, sister of Daniel Covarrubias. Lakewood officers shot and killed Daniel Covarrubias in a lumber yard last month. Photo Gallery

LAKEWOOD — A law enforcement official says officers shot and killed a man in a Lakewood lumberyard last month because he pointed a cellphone at them as though it were a gun.

Interim Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro said Monday he couldn’t have asked the two officers involved to handle it differently because they had no time to identify the dark object the man was pointing.

Daniel Covarrubias, 37, was atop a 25-foot-tall stack of wood at Pinnacle Lumber when he was shot April 21.

Witnesses called 911 because they heard sirens, saw the man running and assumed he was fleeing from officers. Zaro says police were not looking for him.

A lawyer for Covarrubias’ family has said the man went to a hospital hours earlier because he was hallucinating.

Lakewood is about 40 miles south of Seattle.

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