PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) - A shootout in front of a Walmart in Washington state left two people dead and two sheriff's deputies wounded Sunday afternoon, a sheriff's spokesman said.
One of the dead was a man who shot at deputies, said Scott Wilson of the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. The other victim was a young woman who died after she was taken to a Tacoma hospital, he said.
Sheriff's officials said the deputies' wounds weren't expected to be life threatening.
Wilson said details were sketchy, but the sheriff's office received a call about a suspicious person at the store in Port Orchard. He said the man ran and started shooting when three deputies tried to talk to him.
The deputies, including the two who were wounded, returned fire, and the man died of his wounds in the parking lot, Wilson said.
Witness Ray Bourge told KOMO-TV that he saw a man running through the parking lot toward nearby woods, firing his gun back toward the store.
"Right behind him there was an officer chasing him, and he began to open fire," Bourge said.
Bourge said the officer was about 30 to 40 feet behind the suspect when he started firing.
"Five or six shots were fired. ... I just went and took cover," he said.
Witness Victor Meyers told KOMO-TV that he head the first shot, then six more in rapid succession.
"I heard one shot, which I thought was a car backfiring, and then several more reported back, which I knew to be gunfire," Meyers said.
He said he saw a female deputy running toward a victim on the ground before he and other witnesses were hustled from the scene.
The store was immediately locked down, and customers weren't being allowed to leave.
"No one is allowed in or out until further notice by police," customer Mike Lambert told KIRO-TV by phone from inside the store.
Wilson said no other suspects were involved in the incident, which began at about 3:45 p.m. He didn't know whether the woman and the man who were killed knew each other.
Port Orchard is about 15 miles west of Seattle across Puget Sound.
