CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — New investigative documents and audio files reveal more about a deadly shooting by Clark County deputies of a suspect in October.
On Oct. 17, Clark County deputies shot and killed Kfin Karuo, 28, who was wanted for pointing a gun at someone in a parking lot several weeks earlier.
A Vancouver Police bulletin warned authorities that Karuo may be dangerous and to avoid contact with him.
However, in the early morning hours of that Sunday, authorities attempted to stop Karuo in his SUV. Audio interviews detail how Karuo cursed at a law enforcement official before leading them on a chase through Vancouver.
The chase reached between 60 and 80 miles per hour, according to the investigative report by the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney.
Deputy Forrest Gonzalez was alone at first when he managed to force Karuo's SUV off the road onto a sloped berm by a mobile home community on NE 49th Street near NE 122nd.
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The deputy cruiser and Karuo's SUV sat nose to nose, and Gonzalez described seeing Karuo rush to climb out the window of his SUV.
"And at that point is when I saw he had the firearm in his hand," Gonzalez told investigators.
Karuo and Gonzalez both got out of their respective vehicles.
"I yelled, 'drop the gun,' which he did not do," Gonzalez said of Karuo. "Pointed it directly at me."
Gonzalez then fired shots up the slope at Karuo.
By this point, another deputy, David Delin, had arrived. He could not see his fellow deputy but heard the shots.
"Don't know if he shot at Forrest, don't know if he's going to kill me. I didn't want to wait to find out," Delin said in his recorded interview.
Between the two deputies, 18 shots were fired at Karuo. Gonzalez fired ten, and Delin fired eight.
Neither saw Karuo's body react as they shot toward him, leading them to believe he had not been hit.
They said, Karuo disappeared over the berm into the mobile home neighborhood, which is when they stopped the pursuit, fearing an ambush.
"I realized, 'Crap there's a house that is where I had shot. I can't shoot back there anymore,'" Gonzalez said.
That home belongs to Cony Rodriguez. Her mother and daughter were home, when nearly a dozen bullets flew through the building. They were not hurt, but Rodriguez demanded deputy accountability during an interview with KGW in October.
"I don't know how you were trained, but I believe you were there, you chose this job because you want to protect the community, you wanted to protect us, not to hurt us," Rodriguez said. "But the way I see those bullets there, it's not something protecting us."
Karuo died just feet away from the berm in her driveway. Investigator video shows his lifeless body clutching a handgun.
The investigation is ongoing, and current documents do not indicate if Karuo ever fired his gun at deputies.
Both Gonzalez and Delin, who have served for three years, were placed on leave following the shooting.