MUKILTEO — Police were legally justified in shooting a man who was pointing a gun at them after a car chase that ended in Mukilteo last year, prosecutors say.
Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe recently wrote detectives that there will be no charges filed against officers in the Feb. 16, 2014, shooting of Riley Leif Ottersen.
“I believe they were each clearly justified in their use of deadly force,” Roe wrote.
Ottersen, 34, shot two people on Camano Island, killing one of them, then led police on a high-speed chase into south Snohomish County. In Mukilteo, Ottersen crashed his car, drew a gun on officers and was shot, according to police reports. He died weeks later at the hospital.
Police have said that Ottersen was a heroin addict who had previously threatened suicide. The motive in the killing of Bret Berlin, 44, on Camano Island, never was made clear.
The prosecutor reviews every case in the county when police take a life, to determine if the use of fatal force was lawful. Roe first read the completed investigation in September. His final decision was delayed until he could meet with Ottersen’s family, he wrote.
“It was clear in our meeting that Mr. Ottersen’s family loved him very much, and will miss him forever,” Roe wrote.
Before the gunfire, three nearby homeowners heard the crash and were looking out their windows. They and police said Ottersen was unhurt when he got out of his wrecked Toyota Camry. Officers yelled and motioned to him to get on the ground.
At that point, Ottersen raised his hands, then put them in his sweatshirt pockets. He brought out a black handgun and pointed it at two of the officers, looking straight at them, Roe wrote.
Two sheriff’s deputies, an Everett police officer and a Washington State Patrol trooper fired at Ottersen.
The shooting was over in about three seconds, with 38 rounds fired, Roe wrote.
Ottersen’s handgun later was determined to be jammed by a fired shell casing, records show. It is not known whether he shot at the officers before he was struck by bullets.
“Whether he fired or not, however, Mr. Ottersen clearly represented a potentially deadly threat to the officers, and I cannot find any fault in their simultaneous decisions to fire,” Roe wrote.
Roe’s Feb. 9 decision letter was obtained by The Herald under state public records laws.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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