WA: Federal Way cops kill suspect in Walmart lot; gun found

[Euromutt]

From the Seattle Times:

Federal Way police shot and killed a shoplifting suspect Thursday after he left a Walmart store and appeared to reach for a gun near his ankle as they pursued him.

In a news briefing, Kent police spokesman Lt. Pat Lowery said the man has not yet been identified. Kent police will be the investigating agency at Federal Way's request, Lowery said.

Federal Way police were called at 5:30 p.m. by employees of the Walmart at 1900 S. 314 St. who suspected a man of shoplifting, Lowery said. He said the store's loss-prevention officers kept the man under observation.

Police waited outside about 35 minutes until the man left the building. When two officers tried to contact him, he ran, leading police on foot chase for about 30 to 40 yards. He ran south across the parking lot.

Then the man stopped, turned and appeared to reach for an ankle holster with a gun, Lowery said. One of the officers fired several shots, and the man fell to the ground.

South King Fire & Rescue tried to revive him but were unsuccessful, and the man was declared dead at the scene, Lowery said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015690656_federalway22m.html

And a follow-up, "Woman identifies man killed in Walmart shooting":

Jedidiah J. Waters' criminal record shows a pattern of theft, robbery, drug use and assault. He was sent to prison in 2007 for violating an order of protection that banned him from seeing his on-and-off again girlfriend.

In May, the 29-year-old failed to report to his state Department of Correction (DOC) probation officer, and he was wanted on a warrant when he was shot by a Federal Way police officer, according to DOC spokesman Chad Lewis.

That certainly goes some way to explaining why he tried to go for a gun, seemingly over something as minor as a shoplifting charge; when you've got a warrant for violating parole, and you're carrying a gun you're prohibited from having, that rather raises the stakes.

A rather ugly detail is that--according to one person claiming to be a witness--Waters took a bullet to the back of the head, and you can bet somebody will try to raise a stink over that. Of course, any such somebody will probably never have tried to fire a handgun at center of mass of a kneeling target after running ~40 yards in level IIIA body armor and loaded down duty belt.

[gravity556]

1. Imagine that-a criminal who isn't supposed to have a gun

due to a protective order and multiple drug convictions decided to break the law, acquire a firearm, and then break the law by stealing, and then break the law again by running from the cops! If there was just one more gun law, just one more restriction, maybe he woud have said "Whoa, not that's just too many laws to break!"

But probably not.

[ileus]

2. -1 Criminal that is...lesson don't steal from WM...