In what Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza calls a “sad and unfortunate event,” one man was shot and killed by law enforcement during an incident near Onalaska on Monday.
Snaza confirmed to The Chronicle that a man died at the scene following gunfire.
Snaza said the case is being handed off to the state Office of Independent Investigations (OII) as required by law.
He declined to provide additional details, noting that OII would be handling the investigation and the release of information to the public, though he said the sheriff’s office would soon also issue a news release with basic details.
Snaza said his thoughts are with those who were involved with the fatal incident and their families.
The Lewis County Sheriff's Office issued the following news release on Monday evening:
On March 16th , 2026 Lewis County Deputies received a report of a male subject in the area of Cinebar who was in distress. Deputies located the subject in his vehicle and attempted to communicate with him. The subject eventually exited his vehicle and approached the Deputies, armed with a firearm. The subject did not comply with the deputies’ commands and less lethal (bean bag) rounds were used in an attempt to stop the subject. Two deputies fired at the subject with their patrol rifles. The subject was airlifted but was later pronounced deceased. This information is preliminary and this is an ongoing investigation. In compliance with RCW 43.102, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has notified the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations (OII), which will be investigating this incident. In compliance with the statute, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office will not be involved in this investigation.
• All future communications will come from OII.
• OII will release the names of the involved officers/deputies.
• The Coroner/Medical Examiner will release the name of the deceased.
• Once the OII investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the designated local Prosecutor’s Office for review.
