The suspect was officially identified Tuesday by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office as Raymond Azevedo, 35. He died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The video shows police chasing the driver at high speeds through the city. At one point, an officer crashes into the suspect, but the driver keeps going.
In a different patrol vehicle, the driver is seen shooting at officers while speeding. It all ends when the suspect crashes and officers surround him. The driver was killed in a shootout.
Eleven police officers are now on paid administrative leave as Seattle Police Department’s Force Investigation Team reviews the deadly shootout.
The Force Investigation Team has its hands full, with multiple crime scenes that stretch across the city and 11 police officers who fired their weapon at the suspect.
The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild says the 35-year-old man gave officers plenty of justification to pursue and fire on the suspect.
Earlier Sunday at the Under the Needle tattoo parlor in Belltown, an employee said he kicked in the door, pointed two handguns in his face, and said “Where’s your security exit?” He went out the back door and went on a carjacking spree.
According to sources, the suspect took his first car from behind the tattoo parlor in Belltown. He then crashed that car at UW and carjacked another vehicle near the Nordstrom Tennis Center. He attempted to carjack a third vehicle from a woman at a Shell gas station at 8th Ave. NE and NE 65th. And then he carjacked another car near the Enterprise Rental Car on Roosevelt.
Numerous police officers tried to chase him down, performing PIT maneuvers in the process.
“Pursuits are very dangerous events. You have people traveling at high speed. You have multiple cars involved,” said Pierce Murphy, director of SPD’s Office of Accountability.
Murphy says officers are allowed to pursue a suspect only under certain situations.
“Pursuits are reserved for those situations where the danger of the suspect continuing in their flight is so severe, that it outweighs the expected risks of the pursuits. That’s a difficult calculation to make,” said Murphy.
Ron Smith, president of SPOG, says in this case, officers were clearly justified. They were trying to apprehend a suspect as he fled, firing his weapon at those in pursuit.
“This person was driving erratically shooting his guns out the window at responding law enforcement officers,” Smith said. “One of those rounds could have hit a police officer, but could have hit a passerby on the sidewalk.”
The chase ended when the suspect fired at officers at Northeast 68th and 35th. Eleven officers finally returned fire.
Of those 11 officers who fired their weapons, Smith said the most experienced was a 22-year veteran. For one of those officers, it was his first day out on patrol.
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