1 employee dead in shooting at USPS center, suspect at large: Police
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(TUKWILA, WA) — A postal employee was shot and killed at the United States Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center in Tukwila, Washington, on Tuesday, according to reports from the Tukwila Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service of Seattle.
Officers responded to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. local time and found an adult male with a gunshot wound and “immediately began rendering aid until fire and medic personnel arrived and took over life saving efforts,” according to Tukwila police.
However, the victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His identity has not been released.
The shooter fled the scene and has not been located as of 7 p.m. local time, according to police.
Tukwila police said they have reason to believe the victim and suspect were acquainted, but the motive for the shooting remains unknown.
The Tukwila Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit is actively investigating the incident.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(Clallam County, WA) — Authorities said a missing 10-year-old boy who recently underwent a kidney transplant and needed medication has been found safe following an “urgent” search.
Mason Combs was last seen leaving a friend’s house in Clallam County and running into a wooded area at approximately 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the local sheriff’s office.
He was found safe on Wednesday, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers and First Responders who searched diligently for Mason!! He’s been located safe and sound,” the sheriff’s office said in an update on social media while sharing a photo of the child holding a bottle of water.
No additional details were provided.
Mason had been reported missing by his family on Tuesday, according to Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Lorraine Shore.
“Mason needs medication for a recent kidney transplant and was only wearing a t-shirt and pants with no jacket,” the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post on Wednesday.
Without his medication, which he did not have Tuesday night, Mason could pass out, Shore told Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO.
“We are extremely concerned. We consider this to be an urgent search,” Shore told KOMO amid the search. “We are deploying all assets. Our entire focus is on finding this child.”
More than 30 people from multiple agencies aided in the search, which included an aerial search by helicopter and drones, Shore said. K9 teams were also searching buildings and ponds, the sheriff’s office said.
Residents were urged to check their outbuildings, ponds and property for Mason, the sheriff’s office said.
“This is a very rural area, people have a lot of outbuildings, they have a lot of places that a child could hide,” Shore told KOMO. “He might be passed out.”
Mason and his family are from North Carolina and have been in Clallam County for the past two weeks, according to Shore.
Mason’s desperate wait for a life-changing kidney transplant was featured in a November 2023 report by Raleigh station WRAL.
His mother told the station at the time that he was having dialysis multiple times a week after having both kidneys removed.
(TOULUMNE COUNTY, CA) — The parents of a 1-year-old child have been arrested after the child tested positive for fentanyl and THC in California, authorities said.
The incident occurred on April 22 when deputies from the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) responded to a report of a medical emergency where a 1-year-old child had reportedly choked and temporarily stopped breathing at a residence near Dutch Mine Road in Jamestown, California, according to a statement from the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office.
The child was revived on scene, police said, before being taken to a local hospital for evaluation, and later released to their parents.
“The following day, Wednesday, April 23, just before 4:00 in the afternoon, TCSO received a report from Child Welfare Services stating that the child had been brought back to the hospital for a second time on Tuesday by their parents—22-year-old Rory Kerr and 32-year-old Denaun Davis—after becoming unresponsive,” authorities said in their statement regarding the case. “During this visit, the child was administered CPR, successfully resuscitated, and later transferred to an out-of-area hospital for treatment related to Fentanyl poisoning after testing presumptively positive for Fentanyl and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).”
TCSO Detectives “immediately launched an investigation,” authorities said, working on it through the evening into the early morning hours the next day before issuing multiple warrants for the parents of the child.
“Detectives executed the search warrant and located numerous items of drug use paraphernalia containing narcotics residue, along with a used Narcan, inside the motorhome where the family lived,” police said.
During their investigation, officials discovered evidence that one of the child’s parents had administered Narcan during the medical emergency, police said.
Davis and Kerr were arrested and taken to the Dambacher Detention Center, where they were booked on felony child abuse charges, including abuse likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
The child involved in this case has since been placed in protective custody.
“We want to remind the public that while Narcan (naloxone) is a critical and often life-saving tool in reversing the effects of opioid overdoses, including those caused by Fentanyl, it is not a substitute for proper medical care,” TCSO said. “Narcan is temporary in nature and can wear off while dangerous levels of narcotics remain in the body. If you or someone else has been exposed to a suspected overdose, it is essential to seek immediate medical attention—even if Narcan appears to have worked. Being honest and forthcoming with emergency responders and healthcare professionals about potential drug exposure is critical to receiving appropriate and timely treatment.”
“We want to thank our community partners including Child Welfare Services and Adventist Health Sonora for their assistance and clear lines of communication which were critical to life-saving measures and a successful investigation,” police said.
This remains an active investigation, and no further details will be released at this time.
(AUSTIN) — Police in Texas said they are looking for a missing 9-year-old girl who hasn’t been seen in over seven years whose disappearance was uncovered after the child’s mother was arrested for allegedly locking her 7-year-old daughter in a closet for weeks.
Virginia Marie Gonzales, 33, of Austin, was arrested on a charge of injury to a child after the 7-year-old girl was found “locked in a closet and starving” last month, according to Austin Detective Russell Constable.
The girl’s grandmother called police after she found the child “malnourished, soiled and barricaded in a bedroom closet” on April 3, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. The grandmother had gone to the apartment after Gonzales was arrested for marijuana possession, according to the affidavit.
Gonzales allegedly barricaded her child in the closet for a month, feeding her a hot dog or corn dog in the morning and evening and half a cup of water daily, according to the affidavit.
The girl was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, where she was found to weigh 29 pounds and had signs of malnourishment, according to the affidavit. She is currently recovering, Constable said during a press briefing Tuesday, calling the case “emotionally difficult.”
There were six other children in the home between the ages of 2 and 14 who appeared to be physically healthy, police said. Though during the investigation, authorities learned that there was an eighth child, Ava Marie Gonzales, who was not inside the home and had not been seen by family or friends since December 2017, when she was 2 and in the custody of her mother, police said.
“Austin Police Department’s missing person detectives are seriously concerned about Ava’s welfare, given the circumstances in which Ava’s 7-year-old sibling was found,” Constable said.
ABC News reached out to Gonzales’ attorney and did not immediately receive a response. She is being held in the Travis County Correctional Complex on $75,000 bond and has a court hearing scheduled next week, online jail and court records show.
Ava has not been reported missing by her mother or anyone else, Constable said.
Constable said the girl’s mother has “provided conflicting information to many different family members” about Ava’s whereabouts, and police are asking for anyone who may have seen her or knows where she is to come forward.
Police have not identified her father, he said.
Constable said Gonzales has provided police some information regarding her missing child that they are trying to corroborate.
“We’re hoping to get some more information and try to figure out where she is,” he said.
As far as Austin police are aware, none of Gonzales’ children are enrolled in school, Constable said.
Police released an age-progressed photo of Ava, who has brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to email ava@austintexas.gov or can anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 512-572-8477.
ABC News’ Amanda Morris contributed to this report.
