Kirkland Police Kill Man Holding Child

KIRKLAND, WA — Kirkland police on Saturday morning shot and killed a man who was holding an 18-month-old boy and threatening to harm the child.

The incident began around 6:30 a.m. along Northeast 116th Street near the Dania furniture store. The man was holding the boy and "threatening to harm or kill" the child, police said.

Officers followed the man to a wooded area near I-405 when the situation escalated.

"Officers had been on scene for approximately an hour when the suspect's actions toward the child heightened, and an officer was forced to intervene by shooting the suspect to prevent immediate harm to the child," Kirkland police said in a statement.

The man died at the scene and the child was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

The last deadly police shooting in Kirkland happened in June 2018 at the Safeway near the intersection of Northeast 144th Street and 124th Avenue Northeast. Redmond police detectives were following a man as part of an investigation when he apparently flashed a weapon. They opened fire and killed him at the scene.