2 shot, including deputy, on WA Olympic Peninsula

A Clallam County sheriff's deputy and another man were wounded Monday when shots were fired at a house between Neah Bay and Sekiu on the Olympia Peninsula, Sheriff Bill Benedict said.

Benedict told The Peninsula Daily News that Deputy Bill Cortani, an 18-year department veteran, was injured while responding to a trespassing call.

Both men were shot in the arm and hip and were being taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the sheriff said. Their conditions were not immediately available.

Cortani, 41, of Forks, was wearing a protective vest, State Patrol Trooper Krista Hedstrom said.

Hedstrom said the second man was a 59-year-old from the Silverdale area. He was not immediately identified by name.

Cortani had responded to a report of a stranger in a vacant house along State Highway 112, Hedstrom said. The deputy radioed to say he had a person in custody and then called to report that the pair had exchanged multiple gunshots.

State Patrol detectives will investigate the shooting, in partnership with the sheriff's office, Hedstrom said.

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Information from: Peninsula Daily News, http://www.peninsuladailynews.com