Earlier this month, a Washington police officer shot a man after responding to an alleged domestic violence call in the Seattle area. The man suffered serious injuries as a result of the shot, which occurred just minutes after police arrived on the scene to respond to the reported domestic violence incident.

According to police reports, two King County deputies responded to a 911 call that reported a possible incident of domestic violence between a husband and a wife in the Boulevard Park neighborhood. Just two minutes after the deputies arrived on the scene, one of them shot the husband. Following the shooting, the 36-year-old man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where hospital personnel listed him in serious condition.

Police reports indicate that the man was holding a knife when he was shot. However, it was not reported whether he was threatening either of the deputies or his wife or doing anything else that may have motivated the officer to take such drastic action. The wife and two other unknown females were reportedly inside the apartment at the time of the shooting.

Both of the responding deputies were placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting, pending an investigation by the King County Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit with assistance from the Bothell Police Department. Representatives of the police department told the media that the man had been arrested on domestic violence a year earlier, and that he had a current no contact order prohibiting him from making any contact with his wife or children.

Source: The Seattle Times, "Deputy shoots man in Boulevard Park domestic violence call," Carol M. Ostrom, Sept. 3, 2011