Cop Takes Out In-Laws Before Shooting Himself

"GIG HARBOR, WA - A SWAT team found multiple weapons inside the home of a Pierce County sheriff's deputy who shot his wife's parents to death Friday evening then turned the gun on himself after an hours-long standoff.

"SWAT team members reported that 49-year-old Pierce County Deputy Allen Myron was dead when they entered the house several hours after the standoff began, Tacoma police Detective Gretchen Aguirre said.

"She said the SWAT team surrounding the house heard a single gunshot around 9:45 p.m. Friday, roughly three hours after Myron shot his mother- and father-in-law dead at the house.

"The SWAT team later entered the home, methodically searching from room to room. At about 1:50 a.m. Saturday, the team found the deputy's body with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Aguirre said Myron had barricaded himself inside a back bedroom of the home, located in the 10000 block of 58th St. NW, in a quiet, wooded neighborhood near the entrance to Kopachuck State Park.

"Two of the deputy's children - a 15-year-old daughter and a teenage son - had been trapped in the house, but Myron allowed them to leave at about 9 p.m., during the height of the standoff, Aguirre said.

"Myron's wife was not present during the shooting. Authorities said she is OK, at an undisclosed location.

"The first hint of trouble came when the mother-in-law called 911 at 6:48 p.m. Friday to say she'd been shot, then crawled out of the house and into nearby woods.

"Police negotiators and medics rushed to the scene, along with the SWAT team and other law enforcement personnel.

"Some nearby homes were evacuated, and the mother-in-law was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a gunshot wound to the chest. She later died of her injuries.

"During the standoff, the armed deputy, who could be seen through a window above the garage of the home, was communicating with SWAT team members, investigators said. All went silent after the lone gunshot was heard at 9:45 p.m.

"Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said the body of the father-in-law was in the house. Neither of the in-laws was immediately identified.

"Myron, an 11-year sheriff's department veteran, had been on medical light duty for a year and a half and was cleared to come back to work three months ago, Troyer said, adding he did not have more details.

"Tacoma police were handling the investigation because it involves a Pierce County officer.

"The circumstances leading up to the shooting were not immediately clear.

"`We may never really know what happened,` Aguirre said."

From seattlepi.com...