HOQUIAM, Wash. — The Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office believes a husband and wife are dead following a standoff with deputies that ended after midnight Tuesday morning in gunfire, explosions and a fire at a home near Hoquiam.
Deputies were dispatched to a home on Chenois Valley Road on Aug. 31 around 9:20 p.m.
A 47-year-old woman called 911 to report that her 18-year-old son and her 56-year-old husband had been shot. She also reported that her husband had been threatening her.
Another witness at the scene later told deputies that the husband took a gun away from his wife and an argument followed. At one point during the argument, the 18-year-old tried to take the gun from his father, the witness said.
The gun fired when father and son fell to the ground in the shuffle. The son was shot in the hand and leg and his father was shot in the chest.
The son told deputies that when he was leaving the home to get help, he saw his father aiming a rifle inside the home and heard a gunshot. The woman's call to 911 went silent, deputies said.
According to deputies, the son made is in stable condition and the other witness was uninjured.
Deputies reported that after they arrived, the husband refused to leave the home to surrender. He would not allow his wife to leave and threatened to shoot any law enforcement officers who tried to enter his house, deputies said.
Negotiators called to the scene had also learned that the man had numerous weapons, black powder and explosives.
After three hours of back and forth between the man and negotiators, a large explosion came from the front of the house, followed by another large explosion, deputies said.
When the explosions went off, the man began firing several rounds out the front of his home at law enforcement, according to deputies. Seven members of the Aberdeen Regional Crisis Response Unit returned fire.
Deputies said the home caught fire shortly after the exchange of gunfire.
As the house burned, there were more explosions heard coming from the home.
Deputies did not see the suspect leave the house and believe he and his wife were inside when the house caught fire.
No officers were injured.
The Aberdeen Regional Crisis Response Unit (CRU) responded to the scene to assist the Gray's Harbor Sheriff's Office. CRU has members from Aberdeen Police Department, Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office, Hoquiam Police Department, Montesano Police Department and the Cosmopolis Police Department.
The incident is still under investigation. Detectives will return to the scene to investigate when it is deemed safe to do so.
Following standard procedure, all law enforcement officers directly involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave during the investigation, the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office said.
None of the agencies involved in the incident will be investigating the shooting.