Yakima Officer Involved in a Shooting — One Dead

A man is dead in what Yakima police are calling an officer-involved shooting. The victim has been identified as 55-year-old Joseph Ricard of Yakima. The incident started in a Lewis County hotel room Tuesday. A cleaning crew at the Cowlitz River Lodge found a large amount of blood in one of the rooms. Yakima Police Capt. Rod Light says deputies in Lewis County contacted Yakima police when they learned Ricard was the guest in that room late that morning. Police went to Ricard's home at 1000 block of North 34th Avenue on Wednesday and found him in his back yard with a rifle. Ricard put the gun to his head and killed himself.  No officers where hurt in the shooting. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday. It is unclear what happened in that hotel room in Lewis County.