A man who killed a sheriff’s deputy and wounded a police officer during a shootout in Kittitas County, Washington, was in the United States illegally, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The suspect, Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro, also died from wounds received in the Tuesday night shooting.
ICE spokesperson Tanya Roman said Flores Del Toro entered the United States on April 11, 2014, at Laredo, Texas, on an H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker visa.
ICE has no record that he left the United States or extended his visa after it expired, Roman said.
Kittitas County Deputy Ryan Thompson, 42, died in the shootout. He leaves behind a wife and three children, according to the sheriff’s office.
Kittitas police officer Benito Chavez Chavez, 22, was wounded and taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he is recovering, authorities said.
Thompson and Chavez attempted to stop a vehicle they had received a complaint about Tuesday night, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The vehicle failed to stop, which resulted in a pursuit, authorities said.
When the vehicle stopped, Flores Del Toro reportedly got out of the car and exchanged gunfire with the deputy and police officer.
Dan Hansberry, captain of the Ellensburg Police, which is the agency in charge of the investigation, identified Flores Del Toro, 29, as the suspect and said his last known address was in Ellensburg, in central Washington state..
Flores Del Toro had no arrest warrants at the time he fled from the officers, Hansberry said.
Hansberry said Flores Del Toro’s citizenship status is not a priority for the investigation as much as getting to the bottom of what happened that night.
