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Officer wounded during Wash. deputy’s killing is out of hospital

The officer who was wounded during a deadly shootout has been released from the hospital

Washington dead deputy 2-1.jpg

eputy Ryan Thompson. Thompson, 42, was shot and killed and a police officer was wounded after they exchanged gunfire with a road rage driving suspect Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Associated Press

SEATTLE — A Washington state police officer who was wounded in a shootout that killed one of his colleagues has been released from a Seattle hospital.

Kittitas police officer Benito Chavez was shot in the leg and suffered a shattered femur Tuesday evening when he and Kittitas County sheriff’s deputy Ryan Thompson confronted a road rage suspect who opened fire on them. Thompson, who was 42, was killed, as was the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro.

KING-TV reported that the 22-year-old Chavez was released from Harborview Medical Center on Saturday afternoon and that his escort back to central Washington included by Seattle and Bellevue police vehicles.

Thompson left behind a wife and three children. The county has established memorial funds to support his family, and a memorial is planned for next Thursday at Central Washington University.