05-04-2025
Man crashes into parked cars during armed standoff with U.S. Marshals in Pierce County
An armed standoff with a suspect who allegedly fled out of Snohomish County and damaged several cars in a parking lot rattled the commercial center of the Key Peninsula Friday afternoon, according to a nearby store employee.
Nicholas Bosch, a lead supervisor for grocery store Key IGA, said he didn't witness the incident but heard about it from other employees. When his shift started at 2 p.m., employees were still out in the parking lot sweeping up bits of glass, he told a reporter who visited the store around 6:30 p.m. Friday.
It happened 'very fast,' Bosch said: A Ford F-150 pulled into the Key IGA parking lot and crashed into several vehicles, followed by several U.S. Marshals in unmarked vehicles.
'He pulls in and starts hitting cars, and everyone's going, what's going on,' he told The News Tribune. 'And then all of a sudden, several unmarked Marshal vehicles behind him get out with the rifles telling him commands, and he just keeps spinning those tires.'
Bosch wasn't sure how many law enforcement officers were outside but there were 'a lot of them.' They were in full gear, with ballistic helmets, plate carriers and AR-15 rifles pointed at the suspect, who wasn't complying with their orders. No shots were fired because there were too many people in the vicinity, he said.
'We had a lot of panicked customers,' Bosch said.
Four cars were damaged as the suspect drove through the lot. Two belonged to customers and two belonged to employees, according to Bosch. One car's bumper 'was basically just barely hanging on,' he said.
The suspect then drove out of the parking lot, took a right and fled down Cramer Road Northwest, toward Glen Cove and YMCA Camp Seymour, where he crashed on the side of the road and was apprehended by law enforcement, Bosch said he learned afterward.
The Key Peninsula Fire Department posted at 12:22 p.m. Friday about police activity and a possible chase out of Key Center, around the same time that residents began posting on Facebook about an incident at the Key Center IGA.
Key Peninsula Fire Department spokesperson Anne Nesbit referred The News Tribune to other agencies for more information. The News Tribune reached out to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Friday afternoon but did not immediately hear back. Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Carly Cappetto was not immediately aware of the incident when a reporter called at 3:40 p.m. and said she would see what she could find out.
