‘Like a war zone’: Police shoot, kill murder suspect after 12-hour standoff in Bremerton

A standoff in East Bremerton ended Friday morning with law enforcement shooting and killing a murder suspect.

Investigators say a woman was also shot multiple times and rushed to the hospital, but have not revealed if she was an innocent bystander or if she was somehow involved in the crime.

The situation started around 12:10 a.m., when deputies with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department went to the home in East Bremerton in the 3000 block of Forest Drive to serve an arrest warrant to a 49-year-old man, who investigators say was involved in an earlier homicide in Pierce County.

Kitsap County SWAT and Washington State Patrol SWAT, and the FBI also responded.

“We had a lot of officers here for this incident for good reason,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Darren Moss. “We were dealing with a dangerous person and we didn’t want him to flee.”

The scene easily brought out more than 20 police vehicles.

Moss said investigators used every method available to try to get the suspect to surrender peacefully. However, around 3 a.m., investigators say the suspect started shooting at deputies.

The shots woke up people in the neighborhood.

“It’s like a war zone out here – bam, bam, bam, bam! And you hear the flash bangs and there was police everywhere!” said neighbor Tim DeBoard.

He said he heard dozens of gunshots.

After that, Moss says the suspect kept opening fire throughout the night and morning. KIRO 7 crews heard several additional gunshots around 9:30 a.m.

“The suspect was using a rifle and pistol. We don’t know how many weapons, but he’s been shooting for quite some time, so we believe he has more ammunition than what’s in those guns,” Moss said.

The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said the danger of the situation prompted deputies to evacuate nearby residents.

At 10:03 a.m., something triggered law enforcement to shoot the man, killing him. WSP said it was troopers with its SWAT team that opened fire.

Several streets were closed, including Sylvan Way at Olympus Drive and Perry Avenue. Investigators were still on scene as of 6 p.m. on Friday night, more than 18 hours after it all started.

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