Man shot state trooper nine times in Kent, prosecutors allege

SEATTLE – A Federal Way, Washington, man allegedly shot a Washington State Patrol trooper nine times, including with the trooper’s own firearm after stealing it from him, according to King County prosecutors.

Jason Joshua Posada, 31, was charged Tuesday with first-degree assault, firearm theft and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm for the Friday shooting of Trooper Raymond Seaburg, who suffered serious injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

A Kent Police Department detective wrote in a probable cause document that Seaburg was traveling Friday night behind a DUI suspect in a black Ford speeding south on Highway 167, approaching Kent. A minute later, Seaburg called out on the radio that the Ford struck another vehicle and the driver ran away with a backpack, according to court documents.

Minutes later, Seaburg radioed that he chased the man into an apartment complex on West James Place and that he had been shot in the leg, the detective wrote. Responding officers and medics provided aid to Seaburg before he was taken to Harborview Medical Center. Seaburg had nine entry and exit wounds and remains in the ICU, the detective wrote.

Seaburg later told detectives he took the man to the ground while inside the complex. During the ensuing struggle, Seaburg saw the man pull a gun from his waistband and attempt to shoot, but the gun did not fire, the detective wrote. Seaburg grabbed onto the suspect’s gun, which discharged, and the suspect said he was shot in the eye, according to court documents. At the time of his arrest, Posada had injuries to the face and eye consistent with being hit by shrapnel, the detective wrote.

The suspect shot Seaburg several times, he told detectives, before the trooper collapsed. The man then turned around and fired more rounds at the trooper, the detective wrote.

Kent officers found five shell casings that did not match Seaburg’s duty firearm, which was missing, the detective wrote.

Posada had a warrant for his arrest for allegedly violating a court order made after he was convicted of second-degree robbery, according to prosecutors. The detectives later found the Ford truck he was driving had been reported stolen on Feb. 12.

Witnesses told Kent police they had seen a female passenger also flee the truck, and a 911 caller reported that a stranger knocked on their door at the complex to come inside, according to the probable cause.

The woman told police she had been picked up in the Ford by a man in Renton, Washington, who she knew only as “Shadow,” who then began speeding when a trooper flashed sirens at them. After running a red light and hitting a car, the man reportedly told the woman to get her stuff and leave before he grabbed a backpack and fled, the detective wrote.

A K-9 unit located Posada near the crime scene with clothes covered in mud, a black backpack and an iPad, according to the probable cause documents.

Police got a search warrant to look inside the backpack and found Seaburg’s duty weapon along with another gun that had no serial number, according to the probable cause documents. The headstamp on that firearm was consistent with the casings found at the scene, the detective wrote. The iPad had an outgoing message sent less than an hour after the shooting that said “shot a cop,” according to the documents.

Posada is in custody at the King County Jail with bail set at $3 million. His arraignment is set for March 4.