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Monday night’s shooting part of trend of violence against police, Yakima police chief says

By Phil Ferolito, Yakima Herald-Republic
Published: June 1, 2022, 7:35am

YAKIMA — Just before midnight Monday, Yakima police spotted a stolen car in the parking lot of a North First Street convenience store.

A man and woman were standing outside the car in the 1200 block of North First Street when police approached. The man fired shots at police as he ran across North First Street, Chief Matt Murray said.

Police returned fire and the 30-year-old Yakima man kept running despite being shot multiple times. He was cornered in a row of mobile homes near Bartlett Street, where he dropped to the ground. He wouldn’t show his hands when ordered by police, Murray said.

Police then used a non-lethal shotgun that fires beanbags in hopes of getting the man to comply, but he refused. A police K9 was deployed and bit and held the man until police arrested him, Murray said.

The man is now in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, police said.

This is the fourth time within a year police and corrections officers have been violently confronted by suspects in Yakima County, Murray said in a news conference several hours after the shooting.

“There’s an alarming trend of violence against police officers,” he said. “So please know that your police officers are protecting you and are being threatened in doing so.”

In April, police shot a domestic violence suspect when he pointed a gun at them in an armed standoff near North 18th Street and Jerome Avenue.

A slow-speed chase in January ended with police shooting a suspect in the shoulder when he pointed a shotgun at them near the intersection of North Fifth Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

In June 2021 — nearly a year ago — police shot a man near North First and G streets after he fired on them. A police officer was shot in the ankle.

None of the cases resulted in fatalities.

But that’s not all the violence against officers within the past year. In another incident Monday night, a woman began fighting with an officer who responded to a domestic call in Zillah, Murray said.

“His intent was to arrest her, and her intent was to fight with a police officer,” Murray said.

In November 2021, a corrections officer was badly assaulted by inmates at the Yakima city jail.

No officers were harmed in Monday night’s shooting.

Murray said this is the largest streak of violence against police officers he’s seen in the county since coming to the department in 2019.

“We’re responding to the decisions and actions of someone else,” Murray said. “I think it’s terrible that people have guns and are doing bad things with them.”

The names of the two officers involved in Tuesday morning’s shooting have yet to be released. They’ve been placed on paid leave, which is standard procedure, while an independent investigation is conducted.

The investigation is being conducted by the Yakima Valley Special Investigative Unit, which is composed of officers from departments across the county including the Washington State Patrol.

Murray said the officers acted professionally by deploying non-lethal methods after cornering the man and then providing CPR once the threat was gone.

“They may have saved his life,” Murray said.

Police are still searching for the woman who was with the man, he said.

Anyone with information related to the incident can contact Lt. Stace McKinley at the Union Gap Police Department at 509-248-0430 or Sgt. Rob Layman at the Sunnyside Police Department at 509-836-6200.

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