PORT ANGELES — A six-block area between Port Angeles High School and the Port Angeles Library was closed off and patrolled by heavily armed law enforcement agents for six hours Monday after a series of gunshots woke residents starting at about 4 a.m.
The initial search for a suspect lasted through 10:50 a.m., but no gunman was found and no suspects have been identified, said Port Angeles Police Deputy Chief Brian Smith, who managed the effort from a temporary command post outside the library.
“It is possible the shooter left the area as officers arrived,” Smith said.
Five 16-gauge shotgun shells were later found in the backyard of a home in the 2400 block of South Peabody Street where law enforcement executed a search warrant, and a 16-gauge shotgun was found inside the home.
There was no property damage reported, and no one was hit.
Police had reopened roads in the area by 11 a.m. for residents to come and go from their homes.
Gunfire began at about 4 a.m. and sounded like shotgun or rifle shots going off at regular intervals, but residents didn’t call police until about 5 a.m., Smith said.
Responding officers heard between three and six shots near their location and the sound of cycling rounds from a shotgun or rifle, he said.
A group of six houses was identified as the area where the shots came from, and officers from nearby agencies responded to assist the Port Angeles officers in sealing off the area, Smith said.
More than 30 officers from the Port Angeles police, State Patrol, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Elwha Police Department, the U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine created a six-block containment area around the identified section of homes.
A State Patrol plane circled the neighborhood to provide an overhead view of any movement in yards or alleys until about 9:45 a.m.
The closure initially included Lauridsen Boulevard, where the initial command post was established using a collection of police vehicles on Lauridsen at South Peabody Street.
At about 10 a.m., the command post was relocated to South Peabody Street, and Lauridsen was reopened to through traffic.
A search of the neighborhood insured that everyone was safe in their residences, but not every yard was thoroughly checked, Smith said.
“What we don’t want to find is a body,” he said.
Smith said the search turned up a single 16-gauge shotgun shell on the back patio of a house on the 2400 block of South Peabody Street, near the intersection of East Whidby Avenue.
A search warrant was prepared and signed by a judge for a search of the home where the shotgun shell was found, and heavily armed officers served the warrant on the unlocked house at about 10:30 a.m.
No one was in the home, and the female owner of the house, who was at the investigation’s headquarters during the search, was cooperating with police and had given permission for the search, he said.
An intensive search found four additional shells were located in the yard and a 16-gauge shotgun was found inside the home, he said.
Smith said it was not conclusive that the shells and shotgun were related to the shots heard, but they are consistent.
There are other adults in the home, and it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shotgun and shells, he said.
Officers will continue to investigate and follow up on leads found during the course of the ongoing investigation, Smith said.
Evidence found during the search has given officers areas to investigate outside of the neighborhood where the gunshots were heard, he said, but declined to provide specific areas.
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Publisher John Brewer and Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb contributed to this report.
