KITSAP COUNTY, Wash. — The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office says a Bainbridge Island man is in the hospital after his girlfriend’s estranged husband rammed their car and shot him in the stomach.
It happened Saturday around 5:30 p.m. near the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.
Deputies say the man’s girlfriend was meeting her estranged husband to drop off their 8-year-old child after a visit.
The woman told deputies she dropped her boyfriend off at the fairgrounds before the exchange.
According to the sheriff’s office, the husband drove by as she returned to pick up her boyfriend and shot at the couple.
The pair tried to drive away, but deputies say he sped after them and eventually made a U-turn, then rammed their car head-on.
When they got out of the car, deputies say the men started yelling at each other before the husband pulled out a gun and shot the boyfriend in the stomach.
As they fought, the gun eventually became separated from the group and deputies say a witness grabbed it and held it until law enforcement arrived.
The boyfriend was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center and the husband was transported to St. Michael’s Medical Center for a blow to the head & later transferred to the Kitsap County Jail.
Friends of the family say the boyfriend is doing better and is out of the ICU.
The husband was booked on suspicion of First-Degree Assault and Drive-By Shooting. He is being held without bail.
The woman and child were not hurt.
“She’s a wonderful mom,” said Krystina Cavanagh, the child’s teacher. “She cares for her son. That’s how we know her... She’s very shocked. She’s very shaken. It was a lot to go through.”
Cavanagh started a GoFundMe to help the family get back on its feet.
“She’s in a bit of distress right now, and she doesn’t really know what she needs,” Cavanagh said.
Cavanagh hopes the family can use the money to help repair their car.
“It’s how the student got to school every single day,” she said. “The student wasn’t riding the bus.”
It’s also how the child’s mother will continue to work.
Cavanagh wants the family to know they’re not going through this alone.
“This is hard for them,” she said. “I just ask that we just show compassion for them. They’re people. They’re human beings.”