Washington state deputy was killed by illegal immigrant, ICE says
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A road rage suspect who investigators say shot and killed a Washington state sheriff's deputy and wounded a police officer earlier this week was in the U.S. illegally, federal authorities said Thursday.
In an email to Fox News, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Tanya Roman said 29-year-old Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro, a Mexican citizen, entered the U.S. at Laredo, Texas, in April 2014 on a temporary agricultural worker visa.
Roman said ICE had no record of him leaving the United States or extending his visa after it expired.
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Local police said Flores Del Toro lived in Ellensburg, a university city of 20,000 residents 100 miles east of Seattle in agriculturally rich central Washington.
Investigators say Flores Del Toro fatally shot 42-year-old Kittitas County Sheriff's Deputy Ryan Thompson and wounded 22-year-old Kittitas Police Officer Benito Chavez Tuesday night after they attempted to stop his vehicle following a driving complaint. He allegedly emerged from his vehicle and opened fire on the officers after a short pursuit.
The suspect was later shot by officers who returned fire, and was pronounced dead a short time later at Kittitas Valley Hospital.
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Ellensburg Police Capt. Dan Hansberry said there were no warrants pending for his arrest, and officers do not know why he fled the attempted stop.
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Police in the past "had limited contacts with him," but Hansberry described them as "nothing of real significance" without providing further details.
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Thompson was married with three children and is the first law enforcement officer to be shot and killed in Kittitas County since 1927.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.