The Pierce County Sheriff's Office has opened a homicide investigation after a man was found dead inside a shed in Washington state, authorities told FOX 13 Seattle. Deputies were called to a property off 168th Street East, near Spanaway Lake High School, in what investigators described as a rural subdivision along a busy street. The discovery set off an active death inquiry that detectives said was still in its earliest hours as they worked the scene into the evening.
According to Detective Joshua Mills, the response began as a welfare check that came in around 4:30 in the afternoon, placed by people who knew the victim and had grown concerned about him. Deputies were sent to the address to check on the man, a routine call that quickly changed in nature once they reached the back of the property. What started as a request to make sure someone was safe turned into a criminal investigation soon after the first deputy arrived.
When the deputy arrived, the victim was found on the floor of a shed at the rear of the property, Mills said. The man had two obvious wounds to the head area, and medical aid was immediately requested at the scene. He was, however, beyond help, and he was pronounced dead where he was found. The location of the body and the nature of the injuries became the first focus for deputies as they secured the property and called in detectives.
Investigators said the two wounds appeared to be bullet wounds and, crucially, were probably not self-inflicted, which led the sheriff's office to determine that the death should be handled as a homicide. Detective Mills, who is overseeing the case, stressed that the inquiry remained at a very early stage. Key questions about how the man was killed, and by whom, had not yet been answered as the investigation got under way.
Because the case was so new, authorities released only limited information about the victim, describing him only as an adult man in his 60s while they continued to confirm his identity and learn more about him. Animal control officers were also called to the property to assist with several animals found there, an added task for deputies as they worked to process the scene and account for everything at the address through the night.
As of the initial reporting, no firearm believed to have been used had been recovered, and no arrests had been made in connection with the death, Mills said. Detectives planned to carry out interviews to piece together what happened in the hours before the man was found dead in the shed. The Pierce County Sheriff's Office asked anyone with information about the case to come forward and contact investigators directly.