A sheriff's deputy is on paid leave tonight after he says he was forced to shoot and kill a man armed with a knife.
The man allegedly tried to carjack a driver near Barrington Drive in Oak Harbor then stole ammunition from a local Walmart.
No one else was hurt.
A lot of residents said it feels like big city crime has arrived to this island community.
"I moved to an island to get away from this and now it's here," said Tracy McCormick of Oak Harbor. "It's sad."
Investigators say a man was bleeding from his head just after 6:30 p.m. Sunday when he approached a driver and allegedly tried to take the vehicle, but the driver resisted and got away.
"Yeah, extremely scary situation," said Washington State Patrol Trooper Heather Axtman.
She said the man walked into the nearby Walmart, brandishing a knife.
"That man went to the gun counter, attempted to steal a gun, was able to successfully steal some ammunition and left the Walmart on foot," Axtman said.
He made it to the Oak Harbor Intermediate School about a half-mile away, where he was confronted by two Oak Harbor police officers and an Island County sheriff's deputy.
They said he refused to obey their commands, and the deputy shot him.
As to what led to the shooting, said Axtman, "All of that is still under investigation."
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The shooting, some say, is a reflection of the way Oak Harbor is growing and changing.
"We're 'Q-tips' here on Whidbey Island," said Lynn Thompson, of South Whidbey. "Well, not up here. Here, there's a lot of Navy people. But down where we live, everybody's old. We don't do stuff like that."
The identity of the man has still not been revealed. The Island County coroner said they were having difficulty finding his next of kin.
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