Jonathan Shoop was killed in Bothell, Washington earlier this week.
The Bothell, Washington student police officer, who was killed earlier this week, died as a result of an accidental shooting by his training officer, authorities announced Friday.
Jonathan Shoop, 32, was fatally shot during a traffic stop on July 13. Shoop, who had been with the department for only a year, was with Mustafa Kumcur when they stopped a Pontiac G6 without a license plate at 9:40 p.m.
The driver, Henry Eugene Washington, initially cooperated with police before fleeing about a minute in officers’ conversation with the suspect, according to the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team. The suspect crashed into a person on a scooter and crashed into the center median shortly thereafter.
When officers arrived on the scene in their patrol, Washington allegedly opened fire on them with a pistol, police said.
The 37-year-old suspect allegedly fired two shots at the police car, one smashed the window and another ricocheted off Kumcur’s service weapon and hit him in the head.
Kumcur, who was in the passenger seat, fired his gun “multiple times” with one shot and killed Shoop, his apprentice, the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team said in a news release Friday by the late.
Jonathan’s brother Evan Shoop spoke to ABC News on Friday and said he does not blame Kumcur for the accident.
“Honestly, it doesn’t change much for me, that specific detail, it’s just another detail and it’s a tragic situation,” said Evan Shoop. “Jonny spoke highly of his training officer and he loved his training officer, and so did I. So I really have nothing more to say about it than that.”
He said that if Washington allegedly hadn’t fired first, there would have been no shootings.
“It is quite a deliberate action,” said Evan Shoop. “I think the actions speak for themselves right now.”
Washington has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and vehicular assault. He is being held without bond and will be processed on August 3.
“The important thing for me is that this training officer is going through a lot and this is a highly respected person,” Evan Shoop told ABC News. “Jonny has spoken incredibly well of this individual. I see nothing more to say than that. We are also suffering for him.”
Kumcur was treated and released from the hospital.
Washington allegedly called a 911 call center in Kansas to tell his family that he had killed a police officer while fleeing on foot, police said. He got caught trying to get off the roof and was arrested without incident. A Washington weapon was recovered.
“The fact that Mr. Washington did not fire the fatal shot is irrelevant to his guilt in this crime,” King Mary County Deputy Chief Prosecutor Mary Barbosa wrote in charge documents. “But for Mr. Washington’s directed attack on the officers, Officer Shoop would be alive today.”
Shoop’s brother said he wants the training officer “to know that we are thinking of him and that we love him. We do not see this chaotic situation as his fault.”
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