Human remains found following standoff, shooting and house explosion in Grays Harbor County

GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. — Deputies say human remains have been recovered as they continue to investigate a standoff, shooting and house explosion in Grays Harbor County.

Around 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 31, deputies with the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office were called to reports of a domestic violence shooting on Chenois Valley Road near Hoquiam.

A 47-year-old woman said her husband, 56, was threatening her and had a gun.

When their 18-year-old son tried taking the gun away, the father was shot in the chest and the son was shot in the hand.

Police said the son and a friend ran from the home. They watched the man raise a rifle, possibly aiming it at the woman inside.

“She was on the phone with the 911 center. There was the gunshot, and then there was no further conversation with her. So we don’t know what that means,” Sheriff Rick Scott told KIRO 7′s Shelby Miller last week.

Officers tried to get the man to surrender and release his wife, but he refused. When officers moved in, the home exploded, and the suspect began shooting at police. Police then returned fire.

Neighbors watched the home go up in flames.

“At about 2 a.m., our neighbor woke us up and told us they were evacuating people. And I looked, and I saw that the fire from the house was lighting the sky up, and there were explosions,” Mark Moody said.

Moody said deputies had been to the home before.

“It didn’t really surprise me because he liked to shoot Tannerite targets, so there was a lot of explosions over there,” he said. “The guy’s a troublemaker if you ask me, so I just tried to stay away from him.”

Officers, detectives, evidence technicians, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, local Fire Department personnel, Grays Harbor County Road Department crews, and numerous SAR volunteers have been searching the scene for evidence inside of the burned down residence.

Detectives are continuing to interview remaining officers and witnesses to the incident and are processing and evaluating evidence.

The cause of death and identification of the remains found will be released by the Grays Harbor County Coroner’s Office.

Cox Media Group