By Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press
LACEY — Three people are dead and another is recovering from a gunshot wound following a shooting in Washington state, authorities said Wednesday.
Chief Deputy Dave Pearsall said that investigators found half a pound of methamphetamine in a travel trailer where two men and a woman were found dead. He said they also found two rifles inside but don’t believe they were used in the crime.
“We don’t know if this was a drug deal but drugs were present,” Pearsall said.
He said a 9-1-1 call was received at 5:17 a.m. Wednesday from a 30-year-old man from Olympia who said he had been shot, his friends were dead and he didn’t know where he was.
Dispatch was able to use the caller’s cellphone to find his general location: on a property in Thurston County on the east side of Lacey, just north of the state capital of Olympia.
“We found him collapsed on the driveway,” Pearsall said.
Pearsall said the man had a gunshot wound to the chest and was transported to the hospital, where he was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
The three people found dead in the trailer near Lacey were a 31-year-old woman, a 28-year-old Olympia man and a 34-year-old Elma man, and they all appeared to have died from gunshot wounds, Pearsall said. Their names have not yet been released.
At this point, authorities don’t have a suspect or motive, and they don’t know the relationship between the caller and those in the trailer, Pearsall said.
Investigators at the scene were observed going in and out of the trailer and walking around the property.
Authorities are working on search warrants to follow up on leads as they work to establish a suspect, he said.
When asked if any of the wounds may have been self-inflicted, Pearsall said it was too early to tell. He said he hopes to have more details as soon as they get information from the search warrants.
“We’re just asking the public if they see anything suspicious or hear anything suspicious that they immediately give us a call,” he said.
