Man's shooting death may have been suicide

WARDEN – Grant County Detectives have beeb investigating the shooting death of a man in Warden who may have committed suicide. ?

Just before midnight on Sept. 25, Grant County deputies answered a 9-1-1 call to a disturbance in the 6700 block of Highway 262 East near Mardon Resort in south central Grant County.

“The shooting did not happen at Mardon Resort. It's safe,” Sheriff Tom Jones said. “We just used it as a reference point, as we do many landmarks.”

The person calling reported a disturbance and said a body was loaded into a car and the car sped off. ?About 30 minutes later, Warden Police answered a call for help for a man with a gunshot wound at 313 Main Street in Warden.

Police and deputies found a man dead in a car outside an apartment building. He had died from a gunshot wound. According to Jones, the shooting victim was a 21 year old man from Warden. ?

Witnesses were a 24-year-old brother and a 23-year-old longtime family friend. They said all three were out consuming alcohol and shooting a firearm at several rural Royal City and Potholes area locations.

Both witnesses said the decedent was depressed and trying to deal with several personal issues. At one point, they said, the decedent instructed the friend to pull the car over near the intersection of Highway 262 and Road K.2 SE near Potholes Reservoir.

The decedent got out of the car, fired one random round, then pointed the gun at himself and fired a single gunshot, they said.?

The witnesses became frightened, Jones said. They loaded the decedent into the car and drove him to 313 South Main Street in Warden, from where family members called 9-1-1. ?

The Sheriff’s Office is still treating this investigation as if it were a homicide until all reports are compiled and all evidence is examined. Both witnesses have been cooperative, Jones said.?

If you have any information about this case, you are asked to contact the GCSO at crimetips@co.grant.wa.us, or 509-754-2011 ext. 468, Detective Cook.