The Edmonds police officer who shot a 42-year-old domestic violence suspect at a Highway 99 motel April 22 is a 27-year department veteran, and has been placed on administrative leave under standard department procedure. That’s according to a Friday update from the public information officer for the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team (SMART), which is continue to investigate the incident,
Police were called to America’s Best Value Inn — located in the 22100 block of Highway 99 — around noon April 22 to investigate a domestic violence incident and had probable cause to arrest the suspect, later identified as 42-year-old William H. Houseworth, II.
According to SMART Team spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe, during the incident, the suspect advanced at officers while armed with a knife. One officer deployed his taser, but the suspect continued to advance, and a second officer then fired multiple shots, O’Keeffe said. Officers immediately rendered aid to the suspect and medics on scene transported him to Harborview Medical Center, where he later died.
All weekly updates for this case are posted on the SMART Investigations webpage.
SMART is a team of investigators, evidence technicians, records specialist, and public information officers from various Snohomish County law enforcement agencies and Washington State Patrol, who respond to, and investigate, police use of force incidents. There are civilian community members that also serve on the SMART team per the Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act (LETSCA). When the SMART investigation is complete, results will be forwarded to the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
Hopefully the SMART team will wrap-up their investigation quickly so we can get the officer back on patrol. From this coverage, it sounds like this was by-the-book, since the firearm was only used after the LTL tactic failed and the individual kept advancing (probably within 21 feet).
A tragedy for sure. And we’ll all wait for the SMART team to do a complete and thorough investigation before coming to any conclusions.
However, unless I missed it, why haven’t we heard ANYTHING from our Mayor or Police Chief about this? We do have a public information officer too, don’t we? Again, all MIA! This incident seems to be newsworthy to me. I recognize that they need to let the SMART team lead the investigation, but they could have, and should have made a statement. They seem to be acting like this is now a common place occurrence – get used to it. If that is the posture they are taking, then we’re all in trouble.
The SMART team protocols are such that all information comes from them until the investigation is complete, is my understanding.
Yes, I understand that all “information” would come from the SMART team, but I still would have expected the city to acknowledge the incident and provide some reassurance to the community. What did we get? Silence.
Excellent police work Officers. Thank you for protecting our whole community.
It has got to be an extremely difficult job to be a police officer especially these days. I feel heartfelt pain for the person that is dead and the officer who had to shoot them. We’re would we be with out law enforcement trying to just do a very hard and mostly thankless job? We are all lucky to have a caring competent Edmonds Police Department. Lawlessness is not something that should be allowed in a society.
Have sympathy but take a strong stand against criminal behavior for anyone. If you are ever a victim you will understand these words.
It is challenging to be a police officer. Unless there is proof, I hope that if a person is coming out of a building carrying a knife and does appears to be confused or aggressive and there has been violence already, there is a burden of responsibility of the officer to control the scene, especially if there has already been injury. I would most likely run from the scene, but that is not the role of a police person. It is a difficult and challenging profession.