Thursday, October 27, 2011

Royal City, WA: Domestic Violence Call Turned Deadly In Royal City

ROYAL CITY, Wash. -- Grant County authorities have revealed that an officer responding to a domestic violence call led to a deadly officer-involved shooting Monday in Royal City.
The shooting happened late Monday afternoon at 200 Hemlock Avenue NW. At 5:10 p.m. Monday, Royal City Police Officer Ray Rodriguez answered a domestic violence call at that location.
During the call, Officer Rodriguez developed probable cause to arrest Pedro Salgado Ceja, 45, for second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment. As Rodriguez went to place Seja under arrest, Seja refused to comply, grabbed a shovel and started moving towards Rodriguez.
Ceja proceeded to chase Rodriguez on foot for about 150 feet, while the officer, who was unable to use several less-than-lethal options as the incident escalated, continued to order Ceja to drop the shovel.
As Ceja was closing in on Rodriguez, the officer drew his weapon and fired six shots at Ceja. Grant County Coroner Craig Morrison confirmed Wednesday that Ceja died from multiple gunshot wounds to his torso.
Officer Rodriguez called for help at 5:18, eight minutes after responding to the domestic violence call. Multiple agencies dispatched deputies, firefighters and EMTs to the scene to assist Rodriguez. When EMTs arrived to provide Ceja medical attention they determined he was dead at the scene.
Rodriguez, a two-year veteran of the Royal City Police Department, was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure. He will remain on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting conducted by the Columbia Basin Investigative Team.
Once the investigation is completed by CBIT, their findings will be turned over to the Grant County Prosecutor's Office for determination on the legality of the shooting.

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