(Seattle Times) A 30-year veteran of the Mount Vernon Police Department who was shot in the head Thursday evening remains in “very critical” condition Friday, while a “primary suspect” and two others were arrested after a lengthy standoff, authorities said.
The suspect in the shooting is Ernesto Lee Rivas, Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich said on Friday. He was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail in a court hearing Friday morning. Rivas had avoided a three-strike life sentence in a 1998 plea deal on kidnapping charges.
The officer, 61, was shot about 5:30 p.m. Thursday as he responded to a report of a man’s shooting at a home near East Fir Street and North LaVenture Road, authorities said.
For hours afterward, while the officer was in surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the shooter remained barricaded inside the home and continued to fire shots.
