Fatal ATV crash during Walmart shooting brings together 911-responders

Olalla resident Kenneth Folden, 28, died Sunday of injuries received in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Olympic Drive.

The incident occurred about 10 minutes after a fatal shooting at the South Kitsap Walmart.

Folden’s Yamaha ATV lost a tire, left the road and hit a tree, throwing him and his 26-year-old wife from the vehicle.

Folden was semi-conscious, slightly combative and breathing normally when aid crews arrived, said Penny Hulse, public information officer for the Poulsbo Fire Department, which helped provide aid at the scene.

But he died when several major systems shut down simultaneously, said Mike Wernet, at South Kitsap Fire and Rescue battalion chief.

Folden’s wife sustained broken bones and internal injuries.

She is currently recovering at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

South Kitsap Fire and Rescue requested Poulsbo’s help around 3:51 p.m. on Sunday, 10 minutes after the after a fatal shooting at the Walmart on Bethel Road SE.

“You typically have those calls going once in a while,” said Wernet. “It was quite an overload for us for that timeframe.”

Law enforcement agencies also shared the workload for investigating the crash.

Typically, Kitsap County deputies would have handled both, said Trooper Krista Hedstrom, Washington State Patrol public information officer.

“Because the deputies were tied up with the shooting, the State Patrol handled (the accident),” she said.

Many law enforcement agencies came together on the day of the shooting to respond to all the 911-calls, requiring assistance, said Alan Townsend, Port Orchard’s chief of police.

“The public can be very proud of the way law enforcement came together to help resolve this incident,” he said. “Officers from numerous law enforcement agencies came together without a hitch to not only provide additional resources to that horrific event but also to help provide resources to the rest of the citizens that are still calling 911.”

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