62-year-old Snohomish man killed by deputy

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Resident Amanda Collins said she clearly heard three shots early Tuesday morning.

"(My) husband thinks it might have been even five," Collins said. "And then we saw sirens and lights shortly thereafter."

Collins spoke in her yard, not far from what she describes as a rare scene on rural Tester Road in Snohomish: a deadly shooting involving a 31-year-old Snohomish County sheriff's deputy.

"The original call for service was a suspicious call," said the spokesman for the multi-agency (SMART) investigating the shooting.

Everett police Officer Aaron Snell said someone called just after midnight about a suspicious vehicle. When the deputy arrived, he found the vehicle in a ditch.

"He contacted one male," said Snell. "Ultimately shots were fired and one male is currently deceased."

He was asked what led the officer to fire his weapon.

"It's unknown at this point in time why shots were fired or kind of what led up to that," Snell said.

A KIRO 7 investigation revealed the vehicle is registered to a 62-year-old man who lived a few hundred feet from where he died.

His wife runs a wedding cake bakery out of their home. She declined to talk to reporters and instructed her neighbors not to talk either.

In the light of day, police told said a gun was found at the scene.

"(We are working) to put together a time line and piece together the events hopefully as they occurred and be able to come up with a reasonable conclusion," Snell said.

He said it could take several days before we find out what kind of altercation resulted in the man's death.

The Snohomish County medical examiner could reveal the victim's name Wednesday afternoon.

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