Deputy fatally shoots Auburn man

Man identified as Joshua Sarrett, 32.

A King County Deputy fired shots into an Auburn man with whom he was grappling on the afternoon of Sept. 19.

Although the officer took actions to save the man’s life until medics could arrive and take over, he died at the scene.

The King County Medical Examiner has identified the dead man as Joshua Sarrett, 32, and the cause of death, multiple gunshot wounds.

The KCSO has placed the deputy on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in all officer-involved shootings.

Here is what happened, according to the King County Sheriff’s Department.

At 3:03 p.m. Sept. 19, the deputy was at a car wash on Auburn Way South when a witness flagged him down to tell him that a man had been firing a gun in the backyard of a nearby house in the 500 block of 8th Street Southeast.

The deputy drove around the block and had stopped near the house, when a woman walked out, followed by the man.

What precipitated the fight that followed or the subsequent shooting is unclear at this time.

The man’s mother told KOMO News 4 that her son had been suffering from depression and alcoholism recently and had been arrested earlier that week, and that he had hoped to stay the night with him Saturday to find him help.

The man’s mother told KOMO that his sisters were present when he was shot: “[His sister] said he had his hands in his pockets, he wouldn’t get them out. And the cop said three times ‘take your hands out of your pockets’ and I guess he said no.”

The Valley Investigation Team is investigating the shooting.