DES MOINES, Wash. — Police in Des Moines shot and killed a man overnight who was armed with a machete.
At 1:10 a.m. Thursday, officers were called by someone in the neighborhood about a disturbance at a home at South 234th Street and 17th Place South where an armed person was behaving erratically.
Initially, police were told the man had a knife, but when officers arrived, they found a man with a machete.
There was also another person in the house.
Officers from Des Moines, Tukwila and Kent responded and found a man with a machete going in and out of the home.
Police ordered him to put his weapon down, but he refused.
“The armed individual was not cooperative with the officers’ request to put his weapon down. We’re also concerned about the safety of the individuals inside the homes. At this point, we know that one officer did discharge his firearm,” Des Moines police Sgt. Doug Jenkins said.
A Kent police officer was the officer who fired the shot that killed the suspect.
A neighbor told KIRO 7 she called police Wednesday night around 10 p.m. after hearing fighting and someone honking a car horn at the home. Officers responded, the situation ended, and police left.
About three hours later someone else called police saying a man at the home had a knife. Officers quickly saw it was a machete.
Neighbors say the man who was shot was not the homeowner, but a man who had been staying at the house. KIRO 7 saw a black Mustang with Louisiana license plates in the driveway.
Many neighbors didn't hear the gunfire because they live in the flight path to Sea-Tac Airport and their homes are insulated with double-pane windows to reduce the noise.
No one else was hurt.
The incident is under investigation.
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