A manhunt that began with two killings in Pierce County, Washington ended hundreds of miles away on the Oregon coast, where authorities say a homicide suspect died in a shootout with police. Investigators identified the wanted man as Hayes McLeod, 24, and said he was tied to not one but two separate homicide investigations that unfolded within hours of each other early Wednesday morning.
The first case surfaced in Tacoma. Officers responded to the city's South End neighborhood around 3 a.m. after residents reported hearing gunshots, and they found a man down on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds. Crews tried to save his life but could not, and the scene was turned into a homicide investigation. About ten minutes away, another man had been killed a short time earlier, in what would become a second, connected case in Puyallup.
At first, Tacoma police said the two shootings did not appear to be related. Within a few hours, however, Pierce County detectives handling the other investigation linked the cases together, telling reporters that the two men who were killed that morning were from the same family unit. Authorities then released information on a single suspect they were searching for in both deaths.
That suspect was McLeod, described by investigators as 24 years old, about five feet eight inches tall and roughly 115 pounds, and believed to be driving a silver 1996 Toyota 4Runner. Detectives said he was headed toward the Oregon coast, and the search quickly crossed state lines as officers worked to track the vehicle south.
Officers located McLeod in Seaside, Oregon, just after 6 p.m. When they tried to approach him, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office says he opened fire on the officers along Sunset Boulevard. The officers returned fire, and McLeod drove away from the scene. A witness who heard the gunshots said the vehicle sped up a hill before crashing into a fence at Whalers Point.
Police say they found McLeod dead inside his sport utility vehicle. The Pierce County Sheriff's Office said officers killed him during the exchange of gunfire, though authorities had not answered every question about exactly how the confrontation unfolded. The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave, which the agency described as standard protocol. In Seaside, neighbors used to the quiet of the coast described being shaken by the sudden heavy police presence in their streets. Oregon State Police is leading the investigation with help from a major crimes team.