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A man fatally stabbed four people in Washington state on Tuesday morning as deputies with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office were on their way to serve him with a domestic violence protection order, authorities said. The suspect died after a deputy shot him when the stabbings began outside a home on the Key Peninsula, northwest of Tacoma.
Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies initially responded at 8:40 a.m. to reports that a 32-year-old man was violating a no-contact order at a residence on the Key Peninsula. Investigators said they obtained a copy of the order, determined it was not valid because it had not been served on the man, and then headed to the address to provide it to him.
While deputies were en route, additional reports came in at about 9:30 a.m. saying the man was stabbing people outside the home. Officer Shelbie Boyd, a spokesperson for the Pierce County Force Investigation Team, said the first deputy arrived within about three minutes and shot the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sheriff’s office said three of the stabbing victims died at the scene and that a fourth victim died while being taken to a hospital. The Force Investigation Team is part of the inquiry into the deputy-involved shooting.
Court records reviewed by authorities showed that a woman who lived at the address last May obtained a one-year protection order against her 32-year-old son. In filings, the woman described allegations that her son had mental health and substance abuse issues, had pushed her in the past, and later threatened her, writing that her “grave has been already dug up.”
The documents also included the woman’s description that her son was “threatening me, abusing me both mentally and emotionally,” and that he was engaging in “witchcraft/occult behavior and doing rituals in my home.” She wrote about damaging personal belongings and said she was an elderly disabled woman and that her son was taking advantage of her and her health.
The protective order, according to the court records, required the son not to possess dangerous weapons, to stay 1,000 feet (305 meters) from his mother, her vehicle and the shared address, and to comply with a mental health treatment plan, including medication. Records further indicated the man had notice of a hearing before the issuance of the restraining order but did not appear.
Authorities said it was not immediately clear why the attacker had not previously been served with the protection order. They noted that, in Washington state, after someone obtains such an order, the person can request that law enforcement deliver it to the subject or hire a private investigator or “process server” to do so, and they said not knowing the subject’s location can delay service.
Chris Cardenas, who lives a couple minutes away from where the stabbings occurred, said he was washing his truck when he heard gunfire. He told reporters that he noticed something was wrong because he had “never heard gunshots out here,” and he said sirens sounded nonstop for about 40 minutes.
Cardenas said he went to the cordoned-off scene and saw ambulances, a forensics bus and dozens of police vehicles. He said he could not have braced himself “for how tragic the news would be.”