2 officers shot in Pierce County; suspect killed

EATONVILLE, Pierce County — The man who shot two Pierce County deputies during a domestic-violence call Monday night was intoxicated but cooperative, and had agreed to leave the house before he opened fire, according to the sheriff's department.

The suspect, David E. Crable, 35, was killed in the shootout near Eatonville, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Deputy Kent Mundell was shot multiple times, while listed in critical condition and on life support this morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Troyer said. Mundell, 44, is married with two children, ages 16 and 10. He has been with the department for almost ten years.

Sgt. Nick Hausner, 43, a 20-year veteran, was shot once and was in serious condition at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis. "The injuries are not minor, but he is going to survive," Troyer said of Hausner.

Hausner is married, with a daughter, 14, and a son, 12.

Suspect "ambushed our deputies"

The deputies were responding to a report of an "unwanted guest" at Crable's brother's home near Tanwax Lake, 7 miles north of Eatonville and about 18 miles south of Puyallup. The call apparently was placed by Crable's brother. When deputies arrived at the house, Crable's brother invited them in.

Everyone in the house was cooperative, and the deputies had talked Crable into leaving with them. They offered him a ride, Troyer said.

Crable went upstairs to get clothes. When he came back downstairs, he opened fire on deputies "from 3, 4, 5 feet away," Troyer said. Crable fired 10 rounds at the deputies, he said.

"One brother basically ambushed our deputies," Troyer said.

Mundell returned fire, killing Crable.

"There's not going to be an answer that makes any sense, other than that he wanted to kill these officers," Troyer said. "It was emotion filled with alcohol and violence."

Today, a bulletproof vest was on the ground outside the home.

"It did stop a couple rounds, did what it's supposed to do," Troyer said. "But there's parts of the body that's not covered by bulletproof vests."

"Long history of terrorizing his family"

A 16-year-old girl, identified as Crable's daughter, also was in the house.

After gunfire erupted, the girl and Crable's brother dragged Hausner into an adjoining room, barred the door, began first aid and called 911, said Troyer.

"They went out of their way to help him," Troyer said.

Neighbors also gave aid to the wounded deputies.

Neither the daughter nor brother were injured, and both are cooperating with investigators.

The domestic-violence call involved the girl, but details were sketchy Tuesday morning, Troyer said. He said there was a no-contact order in place barring Crable from his daughter.

In June, Child Protective Services (CPS) received a complaint, forwarded by sheriff's deputies, that Crable had abused his daughter, then 15. The allegation was deemed to be "founded," but the agency did not begin court action to remove the girl from Crable's custody.

At that point, Crable was not living in the home he had shared with the girl and his mother, according to CPS spokeswoman Sherry Hill. In addition, Crable's mother said she was moving with the girl to Oregon.

It was not immediately clear if the move took place, or why the girl was at her uncle's house last night.

Sheriff's deputies had been at the Tanwax Lake home at least once before.

"We have no idea why he lashed out at us ... " Troyer said. "There's not going to be an answer that satisfies anybody."

Crable had a contentious relationship with his family, resulting in multiple domestic-violence restraining orders against him, according to Pierce County Superior Court documents. Troyer described Crable as having a "long history of terrorizing his family."

In those documents, Crable is described as suicidal in spring 2007 and violent with his mother and daughter. Crable pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in Pierce County Superior Court in June 2009.

Had been arrested at gunpoint

Crable shared a home with his mother in Spanaway, a two-story white house with a flagpole out front. Neighbor Bobby Brown, 21, moved in next door on May 28, the same day that David Crable was arrested at gunpoint by sheriff's deputies.

"We pulled up to the house, and there were three cops with their guns drawn ordering this guy to the ground." Brown said. "We wondered what we got into."

When Crable returned, about a month later, he didn't talk much about the arrest, except to say that he and his brother had gotten into a fight, Brown recalled.

The night of his return, Crable and Brown had a few beers in Brown's garage. "He pulled me off to the side and asked me if I'd watch his house. I said sure, and he asked me if I had a gun."

At that point Brown said Crable pulled a semi-automatic gun from a holster under his shirt and handed it to him, telling him it was loaded.

"That weirded me out," Brown said.

After Crable left, Brown said he took the weapon into his house, removed the magazine, ejected the round in the chamber, and stored the gun and magazine in separate places.

When Crable came back a few weeks later, he asked for the weapon and Brown gave it back.

Crable slipped the magazine back in the gun and slipped it into his waistband, saying, "Man, you've got to have it loaded," Brown recalled.

"The sadness comes again"

At the Spanaway house this morning, there was a note on the front door, dated Dec. 4, indicating the Postal Service tried to deliver a package to Crable from the state Department of Social and Health Services. The note had apparently been soaked with rain.

Monday night's shootings come less than a month after the deadliest attack on law-enforcement in the state's history, when four police officers from Lakewood, Pierce County, were shot to death on Nov. 29 in Parkland. The shooter, Maurice Clemmons, was shot and killed by a Seattle police officer two days later.

A Seattle police officer, Timothy Brenton, also was fatally shot and his partner wounded on Oct. 31 in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood. A Tukwila man, Christopher Monfort, has been charged in the shootings.

"It doesn't seem real," Troyer, who acted as a spokesman after the Lakewood shootings, said of Monday night's shootings.

"It just shows if somebody's hellbent on doing this to somebody, family members or officers, there's nothing you can do to stop them," he said.

He noted that some of the sheriff's deputies who investigated the Lakewood officers' shootings were also working on last night's shootings.

"It's really shocking," Troyer said. "Everyone is pretty quiet and somber, realizing the gravity of what's happened."

This morning, Troyer said: "It's pretty sad how well and good we are about this, with the cooperation between agencies and taking care of families."

Around 3:30 a.m. today, Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor walked out of Harborview and said Mundell was "alive, and that's a blessing." He did not want to get into specifics about Mundell's condition because not all family members had been notified of the shootings.

He said he started a memo to his staff this morning with the words, "and so the sadness comes again."

Agencies converge on Harborview

King County sheriff Sue Rahr arrived at Harborview around 11:15 p.m. Monday, shortly after the helicopter with Mundell landed. A large presence of officers and deputies from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff's Office, the State Patrol and Lakewood Police Department converged on the hospital.

About Mundell, Troyer said, "It will take some time until we know how he will come out of this."

Gov. Chris Gregoire today issued a statement, saying her "thoughts and prayers" are with the wounded officers, their friends and family. "I am deeply troubled by the recent series of attacks," she said. "[Those] who wear a badge show us the true meaning of service. They sacrifice their safety for ours. We owe them and their families our gratitude, respect and support."

Tanwax Lake, set in the heavily wooded foothills of Mount Rainier, has a small resort and RV park that attracts fishermen.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office is using Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, a mile from the shooting scene, as a communications center. The park is closed and will reopen tomorrow.

Seattle Times staff reporters Jonathan Martin, Jennifer Sullivan, Hal Bernton, Nick Perry, Steve Miletich, Mike Carter and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.