Vancouver police fatally shoot a man who authorities say had gun, physically attacked an officer

Vancouver police shot and killed a man Wednesday night in east Vancouver after he physically attacked an officer, according to a statement from the agency.

Police contacted the man at 10:48 p.m. in the parking lot of Safeway, 13719 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver.

The man and an officer, whose identities have not been released, got into a physical fight. During the fight, the man pulled out a gun. One officer shot the man, who was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the police department’s statement. The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office will release his name and cause and manner of death.

One officer was injured in the fight. No one else was injured.

Three officers — the involved officer and two who witnessed the shooting — have been placed on critical incident leave, which is standard protocol. It was unclear from the department’s statement if the officer involved in the fight was the one who fired their weapon.

The police department notified the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations, which will investigate the shooting and release the name of the officer who shot the man.

This is the first police shooting the office is investigating since it began responding to incidents Dec. 1 in Southwest Washington. Some investigators began arriving on scene within a half-hour of receiving notification from Vancouver police, while others responded from across the state, said Hector Castro, spokesman for the Office of Independent Investigations.

Body-worn and in-car camera footage from the officers on scene will be released at a later time, the police department said.

The shooting comes less than a month after a Clark County sheriff’s deputy shot a man authorities believed to be violating a restraining order in Camas.

This is the seventh law enforcement shooting in Clark County this year. Six of the seven shootings were fatal:

• Jonathan “Scott” Gale, 53, killed Feb. 20: Three Clark County sheriff’s deputies shot Gale when he pulled a gun from his waistband at a property in Brush Prairie, investigators said. The deputies were responding for a welfare check on a woman whose daughter called 911 to report her mother was being held hostage.
• Benjamin Steven Woods, 41, killed April 13: Two Clark County sheriff’s deputies shot Woods, a suspect in a series of carjackings in Hazel Dell and Salmon Creek, after investigators say he pointed a handgun at deputies inside the American Legion.
• Vadim V. Sashchenko, 43, killed June 8: One Vancouver police officer fatally shot Sashchenko after he pointed a replica gun at the officer, who was responding to the area for a call about an aggressive dog near the Vancouver waterfront, according to investigators.
• Jonathan West Nelson, 40, killed June 17: Four Vancouver police officers shot Nelson after he pointed what appeared to be a gun at passersby and police in central Vancouver, investigators said. Several people flagged down a Vancouver police officer, investigators said, to report a man had pointed a gun at them near the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Northeast Andresen Road.
• Michael D. Williams, 56, killed Sept. 27: Williams was killed during a standoff with the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT Team. Williams fired multiple times at police, in one case almost shattering the windshield on an armored vehicle. A Vancouver police office shot Williams after he reportedly started targeting officers, investigators said.
• Patrick Wetzel, 41, shot Nov. 13: Wetzel was shot by a Clark County sheriff’s deputy during a standoff outside Wetzel’s Camas home. Wetzel, who authorities believed was the subject to a protection order, was not supposed to be at the home or possess any firearms, investigators said. Wetzel was treated at a local hospital before he was booked into the Clark County Jail on multiple charges. He has since posted bond.

Reporter Becca Robbins contributed to this story.