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Sgt. And Deputy Badly Hurt After Wash. Shooting

Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer talks to reporters near the scene of a shooting that involved two Pierce County Sheriff's deputies. (AP Photo)

SEATTLE — For the third time in less than eight weeks, police officers in the state have been shot in the line of duty, this time by a man who was drunk and waiting to ambush them as they arrived to remove him from his brother’s home, authorities said Tuesday.

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David E. Crable, 35, shot two sheriff’s officers Monday night before he was killed in the subsequent shoot-out, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. Crable has a history of domestic violence and “terrorizing” his family, he added.

“He knew the officers were coming; he intentionally hid it, he waited for them to get inside, then he opened fire — at least 10 rounds — on both of them,” Troyer said.

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Many of the deputies who rushed to the rural cabin had investigated the fatal shootings of four Lakewood police officers just three weeks before, he said.

“I think some people, when the call went out, didn’t believe it was real,” Troyer said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Nick Hausner, 43, and Deputy Kent Mundell, 44, were wounded after responding to the domestic disturbance call at the home near the town of Eatonville, in the Cascade foothills about 50 miles south of Seattle.

Hausner was in stable condition late Tuesday at Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma and Mundell was in critical condition with life-threatening wounds at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, Troyer said.

Troyer said Crable’s 15-year-old daughter was staying at the home of Crable’s brother, who was identified in court papers as Edward J. Crable. The brother called deputies to have an intoxicated Crable removed from the home, and Crable initially agreed to leave with the officers.