BRIER (AP) — A Brier police officer has been fired for responding to a fatal shooting last month in Mukilteo.
Three people were killed and a fourth was injured when a man shot a weapon at a party on July 30. Dan Anderson heard on the radio that responding officers felt vulnerable and raced the 12 miles between Brier and Mukilteo to help, The Seattle Times reported.
“Whatever they said created enough emergency in me to believe this was a desperate situation,” he said.
Prosecutors have filed three first-degree murder charges against 19-year-old Allen Ivanov in the fatal shooting of Jordan Ebner of Lake Stevens, Jacob Long of Everett and Ivanov’s ex-girlfriend, Anna Bui of Everett.
Anderson’s termination letter reads that as a new officer in a probationary period can be fired at any time, but Anderson said the chief cited the shooting as the cause. Despite having served for 25 years as a Washington State Patrol trooper, Anderson was on probation at the Brier Police Department.
Anderson was the only officer on duty in Brier, which has six patrol officers. According to Anderson, Police Chief Mike Catlett said he was fired “because you left the city unprotected and went to the shooting in Mukilteo.”
Neither Catlett nor Brier Mayor Bob Colinas returned calls for comment.
Anderson said he understands the chief’s position, but that common sense told him to go help with the active shooter.
