Man troopers shot on I-5 lived in Marysville

SEATTLE — A Marysville man was the person who was fatally shot by Washington State Patrol troopers Monday during an incident on I-5 in Seattle.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday identified the man as Jonathan K. Whitehead, 33, and said he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Whitehead had lived in a house along Grove Street in Marysville. The only obvious records of prior contacts with police were traffic infractions in 2012. Two of the incidents involved troopers based in Snohomish County, another happened in Enumclaw.

Marysville police said they could find no record of contact with Whitehead.

Whitehead was shot after he stopped his truck in the southbound lanes of I-5 on the Ship Canal Bridge, set the vehicle on fire and spray-painted a large green circle on the freeway.

Seattle police say when troopers arrived, the man displayed a knife. The troopers reportedly first used a Taser to try to stop him, but when that didn’t halt his advance, they shot him with their duty weapons.

The incident backed up traffic for hours.

The troopers were identified as 29-year-old Andrew Boyer, a seven-year veteran who is the son of retired trooper and Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer, and 29-year-old Christopher Kyle, who has been with the patrol for two years.

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