We received this posting yesterday from the brother of the man shot by a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Deputy on July 16th. Ben Gaswint told me over the phone this morning that the family is looking for answers to what happened. Here is his unedited comment.
This shooting was very wrong and should be illegal for cops to use deadly force on any unarmed person. This case has been a mess and still is. Justin was alive for more than 3 hrs, neither the police nor the hospital informed the family. We could have at least went to the hospital while he was still alive! We were not even notified of his death by anyone, especially the police for a ridiculous amount of time (5 days). The system is broken and desperately needs to be fixed! I can only hope and pray that Justins tragic and avoidable death will change the system and maybe the next unfortunate family that this happens to will be notified, they’ll be able to go to the hospital before its to late. It has been a month now and still no infor, no closure. If anyone saw this tragic death of Justin in person, I beg of you to please come firward, please contact our family so we can have some closure. You can contact me personally, I’m his brother Ben. My number is 425-530-3225. I greatly appreciate all who can sympathize what this means to us and how grateful we’ll be to all those who come forward. The police have so many ways to subdue a suspect, a gun should always be the last option. Thanks for all those who’ve shown support and any witnesses who come forward. Thank you – Ben Gaswint
On July 21st, the Everett Police Department, who is handling the investigation into the shooting, made its own plea for information. The case remains under investigation.
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August 18, 2011
Everett, Police Blotter