Officer wounded during deputy’s killing is out of hospital

SEATTLE – A Washington state police officer who was wounded in a shootout that killed one of his colleagues has been released from a Seattle hospital.

Kittitas police officer Benito Chavez was shot in the leg and suffered a shattered femur Tuesday evening when he and Kittitas County sheriff’s deputy Ryan Thompson confronted a road rage suspect who opened fire on them. Thompson, who was 42, was killed, as was the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Juan Manuel Flores Del Toro.

KING-TV reported that the 22-year-old Chavez was released from Harborview Medical Center on Saturday afternoon and that his escort back to central Washington included by Seattle and Bellevue police vehicles.

Thompson left behind a wife and three children. The county has established memorial funds to support his family, and a memorial is planned for next Thursday at Central Washington University.

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Information from: KING-TV, http://www.king5.com/