GOLD BAR — A day after a woman was killed in a shooting east of Gold Bar, deputies pursued and arrested a murder suspect who tried to flee by floating down the Skykomish River west of Sultan.
Police believe the suspect, 44, was on the run for about 18 hours.
Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, the suspect met with two women at the Big Eddy boat launch, where they got into an argument, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
The gunman shot one woman, 32, and pistol-whipped the other, 29, sheriff’s spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe wrote in a press release.
The survivor tried to flee the scene along U.S. 2. Deputies found them on Old Owen Road in the Monroe area. The 32-year-old woman was in the passenger seat, with a single gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead. The driver was taken to Evergreen Hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Detectives did not find the suspect at the original crime scene.
No suspect description was made public in the hours that followed.
O’Keefe confirmed Tuesday evening the shooting did not appear to be random.
A large number off law enforcement are gathered at a Skykomish River water access on Ben Howard Road on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, in Monroe, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Around 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, deputies chased the homicide suspect, who ran into the Skykomish River, according to the sheriff’s office. Exactly where he went into the river wasn’t clear, but police radio traffic suggested that deputies converged on the Sultan River bridge. Deputies called for a drone, a helicopter and a boat to help in the manhunt, as the man floated down the Skykomish.
The river was about 41 degrees Fahrenheit near Gold Bar on Wednesday, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.
Deputies arrested the suspect at a boat launch off Ben Howard Road, on the south side of the river, 7 miles downstream from Sultan. He was expected to be booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree murder.
The cause and manner of the woman’s death, as well as her identity, will be confirmed by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.
This was the third suspected homicide in Snohomish County in the past week.
On Dec. 29, a man and woman died in the 2500 block of Euclid Avenue in Everett. Both had been shot.
Early Sunday morning, Joshua Kelly allegedly shot and killed a man in a Lake Stevens apartment after the two had been play-fighting. Police arrested Kelly for investigation of second-degree murder.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @snocojon.
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