BREMERTON — A 36-year-old man shot by a Kitsap County SWAT team after a nearly four-hour standoff early Sept. 23 was still at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma four days later, recovering from a bullet wound to the wrist and hip.
When released, he will be taken into custody on a first-degree assault charge for pointing a gun at officers, Police Chief Steven D. Strachan said Sept. 27. The man is also suspected of domestic assault. He could face additional charges, pending an investigation by Washington State Patrol.
“We have an officer present 24 hours a day” outside the man’s hospital room, Strachan said.
Bremerton police officers were called to a residence in the 1700 block of Shorewood Drive in West Bremerton at 4:48 a.m. Sept. 23 after receiving a report of a felony domestic assault that happened around midnight at the home.
Authorities said the man, who was not immediately identified, was shot after he pointed a handgun at members of the SWAT team who had surrounded his home.
Other people in the home, believed to be the man’s wife and children, had escaped from the home after the alleged assault.
Officers tried to make contact with the man just before 5 a.m.
Police said he came out of the home carrying a handgun, but then went back inside.
He refused to talk to police on the phone and would not come out of the house at the north end of Shorewood Drive, a dead-end road, near the water.
Bremerton police said a warrant was obtained for the man’s arrest, and the Kitsap County SWAT team was sent to the scene to carry out the warrant.
Police surrounded the home — a police patrol boat was stationed in the water directly east of the house — and authorities said they tried to talk to the man over the phone and by a loudspeaker. Police cordoned off the street about an eighth of a mile from the home, Strachan said.
Authorities said the man refused to come out, and about 7:50 a.m., he allegedly put his arm out a window of the home and pointed a handgun at officers in the police boat nearby.
Members of the SWAT team surrounding the home then fired and “apparently struck the suspect,” the Bremerton Police Department reported.
Officers tried again to talk the man into coming out, and at 8:25 a.m. police entered the home and found the man wounded, with injuries to his wrist and hip.
Police said they could not tell if the man fired on officers. A handgun was later recovered from the home.
The man was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Medical Center.
The police shooting is being investigated by the Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team, a team made up of detectives from law enforcement agencies in the area, which includes the Washington State Patrol. Strachan said it was unknown if bullets from more than one officer’s gun struck the man; that will be determined in the investigation.
The SWAT team consists of officers from Bremerton Police, Bainbridge Island Police and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office.
“We appreciate the assistance of our partner agencies, and we appreciate the patience and understanding of the neighborhood in a difficult situation like this one,” Strachan said. “Officers and deputies worked diligently to end this situation peacefully, but we have to remember that outcomes are driven by the decisions and choices of the suspect involved.”
