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OLYMPIA -
Police and sheriff's investigators are trying to figure out what led to an officer-involved fatal shooting in a hospital emergency room in Olympia early this morning.
At about 2:13 a.m., Olympia Police received a 9-1-1 call from the security office at Providence St. Peters Hospital.
Officers were requested to help the hospital staff deal with a patient who was being unruly and was possibly armed.
Police say 43-year old Joseph Burkett of Elma had been brought into the hospital emergency room for a head injury.
According to police, Burkett's mother brought him to the hospital and warned staffers that her son may be armed.
The officers searched Burkett and found he had two loaded handguns. Officers took the guns away as Burkett was being treated by hospital staff.
Burkett remained in the E.R. with police present while treatment for his head injury continued.
Then at around 4:15 a.m., as hospital staff started getting Burkett ready for a medical test, the man became upset and unruly.
Police say the officer on guard entered the treatment room to assist the staff. Police say that's when Burkett pulled out a third gun.
"A struggle ensues over that gun and in that process the officer pulls out his handgun and fires one round," says Lt. Jim Partin with the Olympia Police Department.
Hospital staff immediately began treatment for the gunshot wound, but they could not save Burkett.
"How he came into the emergency room with three guns undetected is one of the things we are investigating right now," said Lieutenant Jim Partin of the Olympia Police Department. "The Thurston County Sheriff's Office has an Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team that is processing the evidence at the scene."
The officer involved in the shooting is a 13-year veteran of the Olympia Police Department.
As is standard procedure in any such case, the officer has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation by the sheriff office's Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team which includes the Washington State Patrol.
Residents of Elma Manor, a low-income apartment building in Elma, say Burkett lived there.
Tina Birmingham says she'd seen Burkett going in and out of the apartment right next to hers. She didn't know him well, but says what she knows now terrifies her.
"This scares me and it scares everybody else in this building. This building is known as a safe place and having someone like that here is pretty scary for all of us," says Birmingham.
At about 2:13 a.m., Olympia Police received a 9-1-1 call from the security office at Providence St. Peters Hospital.
Officers were requested to help the hospital staff deal with a patient who was being unruly and was possibly armed.
Police say 43-year old Joseph Burkett of Elma had been brought into the hospital emergency room for a head injury.
According to police, Burkett's mother brought him to the hospital and warned staffers that her son may be armed.
The officers searched Burkett and found he had two loaded handguns. Officers took the guns away as Burkett was being treated by hospital staff.
Burkett remained in the E.R. with police present while treatment for his head injury continued.
Then at around 4:15 a.m., as hospital staff started getting Burkett ready for a medical test, the man became upset and unruly.
Police say the officer on guard entered the treatment room to assist the staff. Police say that's when Burkett pulled out a third gun.
"A struggle ensues over that gun and in that process the officer pulls out his handgun and fires one round," says Lt. Jim Partin with the Olympia Police Department.
Hospital staff immediately began treatment for the gunshot wound, but they could not save Burkett.
"How he came into the emergency room with three guns undetected is one of the things we are investigating right now," said Lieutenant Jim Partin of the Olympia Police Department. "The Thurston County Sheriff's Office has an Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team that is processing the evidence at the scene."
The officer involved in the shooting is a 13-year veteran of the Olympia Police Department.
As is standard procedure in any such case, the officer has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation by the sheriff office's Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team which includes the Washington State Patrol.
Residents of Elma Manor, a low-income apartment building in Elma, say Burkett lived there.
Tina Birmingham says she'd seen Burkett going in and out of the apartment right next to hers. She didn't know him well, but says what she knows now terrifies her.
"This scares me and it scares everybody else in this building. This building is known as a safe place and having someone like that here is pretty scary for all of us," says Birmingham.
