A man who police say had been wielding a hammer was killed by a Washington State Patrol trooper Thursday, according to an investigatory spokesperson.
The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team was investigating the police shooting Thursday night. The man was ramming a Washington State Department of Transportation contractor vehicle and lift with his car on the shoulder of northbound Interstate 5 when police were called around 4 p.m., spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe wrote in a statement.
The lift had two WSDOT contractors onboard who were operating over the slough on the shoulder of I-5 northbound near milepost 197, O’Keefe said.
An altercation ensued between the man, the contractors and the trooper before the trooper shot the man, according to O’Keefe. Law enforcement officers provided aid before the man died.
One WSDOT contractor had non-life-threatening injuries.
The identity of the man who was killed will be released by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Northbound I-5 at Union Slough reopened by midnight, WSDOT tweeted after a closure that lasted several hours on Thursday evening.
The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, which investigates police use of force, responded to the shooting, the team said on the social platform X around 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified WSDOT contractors as WSDOT employees.