SEQUIM — Law enforcement officers are investigating a homicide in the 100 block of Senz Road in Sequim in connection with a man involved in a Thursday morning incident in downtown Sequim.
Bret Allen Kenney, 34, was booked at 6 p.m. Thursday for investigation of first-degree assault of a police officer, disarming a law enforcement officer and DUI drugs. by the Port Angeles Police Department, according to the jail roster.
Law enforcement officers had conducted a requested welfare check and found a deceased woman. They then learned that the suspect involved in the shooting lived in the residence, according to a press release.
A routine police stop Thursday morning led to the firing of gunshots that injured a police officer and the suspect, law enforcement and City of Sequim officials said.
At 4:31 a.m. Thursday morning, a Sequim police officer was conducting a traffic stop near the intersection of West Washington Street and North Third Avenue. A Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived to assist at 4:37 a.m., according to Capt. Randy Plumb of the Bremerton Police Department, which is investigating the shooting.
Initial indications are that, at some point during the traffic stop, the Sequim officer discharged his duty weapon, Plumb said in a press release.
The stop “rapidly escalated and became physical, which then led to gunshots,” City of Sequim attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross said in a city press release.
The suspect was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then released to police custody, Nelson-Gross said. The officer was evaluated and discharged with minor to moderate injuries.
Capt. Mike Davis with the Bremerton Police Department said he could not confirm nor deny if anyone was shot in the incident. He did not identify the officer or the suspect. He could not be reached later on Thursday for comment about the circumstances.
Third and Washington streets were temporarily closed for the investigation, Nelson-Gross said.
Nelson-Gross noted that any officer-involved significant use of force incident that includes any with shots fired results in an independent investigative team taking over the investigation.
“Once the Sequim Police Department were notified this incident met those parameters, the Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team Commander was notified,” Nelson-Gross said.
That team took over the investigation and “the City no longer has any involvement in the process,” she said.
The Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team (KCIRT) is a multi-agency investigative team comprised of 10 law enforcement agencies in Kitsap, Mason and Clallam counties. Port Angeles police are part of the team but can provide no information. Neither the Sequim Police Department nor the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office are involved in the investigation, Plumb said.
At about 8:40 a.m., Clallam County law enforcement received a request for a welfare check on a woman in the 100 block of Senz Road in Sequim, said Plumb in a press release issued late Thursday.
KCIRT investigators learned this is the suspect’s residence. Officers with the Port Angeles Police Department checked the residence and found a deceased woman. KCIRT is investigating the death of the woman as a homicide.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.
