PORT ANGELES — An investigation is under way into the exchange of gunfire that killed a Port Angeles woman and wounded a State Patrol officer.
Glen Tyrrell, Bremerton detachment public information officer for the State Patrol, said the patrol and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office are conducting the investigation.
Rosa Hammer, 27, died Thursday night on state Route 16 south of Bremerton when, according to the State Patrol, she fired a gun at a trooper who had just handcuffed her friend following a traffic stop.
One bullet hit trooper Ron Kessler, 32, a nine-year veteran of the force, in the hand.
Within seconds, Hammer was dead, killed by the officer’s return fire.
Hammer’s 5-year-old daughter, Lanna, was nearby in a pickup truck when her mother was shot and killed.
The child was not injured and was taken into state custody, then placed with her grandfather, Edward Hammer of Port Angeles.
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