A veteran Federal Way police officer was shot in the abdomen and suffered life-threatening injuries after spotting two men trying to burglarize a Puyallup tractor dealership.
November 02, 22021 – By Katherine Anne Long – Source The Seattle Times
An off-duty Federal Way police officer is expected to survive after being shot in the abdomen during what police said Sunday was an attempted burglary of a tractor dealership.
Federal Way police chief Andy Hwang confirmed in a Facebook post Sunday afternoon that the officer is Donovan Heavener. An avid runner and a leader of the Washington State Law Enforcement Torch Run, Heavener joined the department in 1996, Hwang wrote. He worked in law enforcement in Wisconsin between 2004 and 2016 before returning to the Federal Way police, where he currently conducts background investigations of new personnel, according to Heavener’s LinkedIn.
Heavener “appears to have been trying to stop a burglary in progress” shortly after 7 a.m., Puyallup police said in a statement. A spokesperson later confirmed that the alleged burglary was at tractor dealership Jennings Equipment on River Road in Puyallup.
A Puyallup police spokesperson said Heavener was out for a jog when the officer spotted two men attempting to “pull the doors off the business and make entry,” Puyallup police Chief Scott Engle said in a news conference Sunday morning. The officer was shot while standing on the sidewalk, Engle said.
The officer was transported to a hospital, where he underwent surgery on “life-threatening” injuries, police said.
Police are searching for two suspects they believe to be involved in the shooting and burglary, as well as two pickup trucks — a light-colored four-door Chevrolet with a missing or down tailgate, and a black truck — that were observed leaving the scene.
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