6th UPDATE: SHOOTING: Port Angeles man in critical condition following police shootout
Published 9:58 am Saturday, May 28, 2016
Peninsula DAily News and KOMO News
PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles resident James Sweet, 36, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in a shooting incident with police this morning at 9:50 a.m.
Traffic on U.S. Highway 101 has been backed up both east and west from its intersection with Monroe Road, as it is diverted around the area.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict reported that Sweet is in critical condition at Olympic Medical Center. It is expected that Sweet will be transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Benedict said an officer attempted to pull over Sweet’s vehicle for expired tags around 9:45 a.m. on U.S. Highway 101, but the driver sped off, leading police on a pursuit.
The chase ended at Monroe Road when Sweet’s vehicle crashed into another car. Sweet got out of his vehicle and started shooting at officers with a handgun and police fired back, hitting him multiple times, according to authorities.
He was armed with a revolver and fired all six rounds at police, according to Benedict.
Three Port Angeles police officers and one Clallam County sheriff’s deputy received some minor scrapes and bruises but were otherwise uninjured, Benedict said.
The driver of the vehicle that Sweet crashed into was also not injured, according to KOMO-TV.
Eyewitnesses said they heard at least 30 shots fired.
Sam Phillips of Clallam Fire District No. 2 reported that the incident ended when a sheriff’s deputy tackled the shooter.
A press conference has been scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Clallam County Courthouse.
