By Christine Clarridge
The Seattle Times
BREMERTON, Wash. — Two Bremerton police officers are recovering from gunshot wounds after a 53-year-old man fired numerous shots at them early Sunday morning.
The officers returned fire and killed the man, according to Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan.
The man opened fire on the officers as they approached him while he was seated behind the wheel of an SUV at 1:16 a.m. in the parking lot of Lions Field near Lebo Boulevard and Hefner Avenue.
As the two officers approached, “the man immediately began firing numerous shots directly at both officers,” Strachan said.
Police have had previous run-ins with the man for domestic violence incidents involving his ex-wife and he had blackened an officer’s eye in a recent contact, the chief said. On Sunday, the man was armed with two handguns and came out shooting, a gun in each hand, Strachan said, calling it a “firefight.”
“It was in relatively close quarters,” the chief told reporters, and the officers retreated to cover behind their vehicles. “There are bullet holes in the squad cars,” Strachan said.
One officer was grazed along the waist by a bullet and was released on Sunday from Harrison Hospital, the chief said. The second suffered “two, maybe three” gunshot wounds in his abdomen, just below his protective vest. The chief said that officer was in surgery for several hours but was in satisfactory condition and with his family Sunday morning.
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The Kitsap Critical Incident Response Team, which responds to major incidents, was at the shooting scene.
Strachan said the investigation into the shooting will be conducted by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol, along with officers from the Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island and Port Orchard police departments.
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