Police: Sheriff's deputy in WA shoots in-laws

[May 15, 2010]  GIG HARBOR, Wash. (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy accused of fatally shooting his wife's parents was found dead in his Gig Harbor, Wash., home early Saturday, after an hourslong standoff, police said.

SWAT team members reported that 49-year-old Allen Myron was dead after they entered the house more than six hours after the standoff began, Tacoma police Detective Gretchen Aguirre said.

"The team clearing the house found the deputy deceased," Aguirre told The Associated Press.

She said that she didn't know how the Pierce County deputy died or what prompted the SWAT team to enter the home when it did.

Two of Myron's children had been trapped in the house but managed to safely leave during the early part of the siege.

It also wasn't immediate clear what touched off the violence, but the mother-in-law called 911 at 6:48 p.m. Friday, then crawled out of the house and into nearby woods, Tacoma's News Tribune reported. She had been wounded and died after being flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Police negotiators rushed to the scene, about 25 miles southwest of Seattle, along with the SWAT team and other law enforcement personnel.

Troyer said the body of the father-in-law was in the house. Neither of the in-laws was immediately identified. Police did not provide information on the whereabouts of the Myron's wife.

Myron, an 11-year sheriff's department veteran, had been on medical light duty for a year and a half and was cleared to come back to work three months ago, Troyer said, adding he did not have more details.

Tacoma police were handling the investigation because it involves a Pierce County officer. The house is located in a quiet, wooded neighborhood near the entrance to Kopachuck State Park.

Dana Malich, who lives behind the deputy's family, told The Seattle Times that she "heard a loud bang from the house behind" before 7 p.m. Friday but "didn't think anything of it."

She called Myron "a good person."

Neighbor Weldon Wilson, a retired state trooper, said whenever he saw Myron, the two would talk about law-enforcement issues. "He seemed like a pretty squared-away guy," Wilson told the Times.

[Associated Press]

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