We want to get straight to some
breaking news out of Pierce County,
where two deputies were shot.
They are both seriously hurt.
Thanks for being with us.
I'm Jessica Janner Castro.
I'm Greg Copeland. Those deputies
were shot during a SWAT situation
just South of Spanaway near the Roy.
Why we have team coverage for you?
King Fester Mickelson is live
at the hospital where those
deputies are receiving treatment.
Right now. We just heard from
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer.
Troyer drew will have more on that.
We're going to begin though with
Lionel Donovan live near the
scene of today's shooting line L.
Good afternoon, well it has been a long
day for law enforcement here in Pierce
County as investigators try to piece
together exactly what happened here today.
Now we've been standing out here all day.
We've been seeing units from Tacoma,
Lakewood University Place,
even units from Fife and the
State Patrol have all come out
in order to to provide support.
And throughout the course of the day the the
19,000 block of Pacific Ave was shut down,
which even caused some traffic buildup.
At the junction of 176th Street,
now investigators are still on the
scene and the road has opened up in
order for traffic to flow through.
But here's what we know so far.
The South Sound Gang Task Force called
on the SWAT team from the Pierce County
Sheriff's Department to help them with
an arrest here at this mobile home
community on 190th St and Pacific
Ave at around 8:30 in the morning.
Now during the course of that Operation,
2 deputies were shot.
A 40 year old male suspect was also shot
and has since been pronounced dead.
Now witnesses have told me that
throughout the day they described a
chaotic scene as units from across the
county came here in order to provide support,
but once they started to see ambulances,
they knew something had gone wrong.
All crap something bad happened and
I knew you had to have something
happen with the law enforcement
because you don't really see a escort
ever like that for anything else.
And my wife pulled up on her phone.
She said two officers got shot
from her phone and sure enough
we kind of knew put it together.
Now these investigators are from the
Pierce County Force Investigations team.
They are on the scene investigating
this incident that they're the ones that
are called in whenever law enforcement
uses deadly force in the field.
Now new details are coming out
and as soon as they are available,
we'll make sure to bring them to you.
Thank you, our team coverage
continues now with Drew Mikkelsen.
He's live in Tacoma at the
hospital where those deputies
were taken for treatment.
Drew, what can you tell us about
their conditions right now?
Well Jessica, we just got an
update about 10 minutes ago from
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer
and the news overall was not good.
First of all, one of the deputies
is expected to survive but he will
be here at the hospital for a week.
We're told the other one though,
suffered grave injuries, grave wounds.
We were told and from the sheriff he says
they were told to prepare for the worst.
Take a look at some video from
earlier this afternoon when we got
here to Saint Joseph Medical Center.
The place was covered surrounded
by law enforcement officers from
the Pierce County Sheriff's Office,
Tacoma Sumner.
All sorts of law enforcement presence
here almost standing vigil with these two
deputies who were wounded this morning.
Again,
one was in surgery earlier,
but he is expected to survive.
But we were told the 35 year old
deputy who suffered those grave
injuries is a military veteran.
He also is a member of the
Washington National Guard,
has a wife and a four year old child.
This is hitting very close to
home for the sheriff.
He's a local person who has done nothing
but public service his whole entire life.
He is big hearted, great guy,
got in his job for the right reasons.
He was well liked by
everybody on the department.
He has hundreds of friends that
are here and colleagues and he
was somebody that always stepped
up and took care of business.
While the sheriff says they have
been told to prepare for the worst,
they're still holding out hope.
He said there are a number of
chaplains here and everyone
is praying for a miracle.
Live in Tacoma.
Drew Mikkelsen King 5 News.
OK, Drew and just as a recap
of what we know so far,
which is not a lot at this point 2
deputies with Pierce County Sheriff's
Department were shot just out the
Spanaway during a SWAT operation.
They were taken to the Tacoma Hospital,
Saint Joe's. We're told one of the deputies
is in surgery with serious injuries.
The other one is suffering
from what you drew.
Mentioned was grave injuries according
to the Pierce County Sheriff,
40 year old suspect is also.