A Lakewood police officer is on leave after fatally shooting an armed man Wednesday night.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office Thursday identified the dead man as 37-year-old Curtis Wetzel.
Five officers were sent to the Mount Tacoma Mobile Home Park at 8:20 p.m. Wednesday to investigate reports of a drunken man assaulting his wife, police spokeswoman Heidi Hoffman said. The woman and the couple’s 8-year-old son were able to flee to a neighbor’s house.
When officers arrived, the man refused to drop the weapon and came toward the officers, Hoffman said. One officer opened fire, killing the man.
This is the first officer-involved shooting since September, when a man was shot when he tried to ram an officer, Hoffman said. It is the fourth since the department’s inception in 2004.
Brian Everstine, The News Tribune
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