Lewis County Sheriff’s officers and members of the county coroner’s office gather in the intersection of 2nd Avenue Northwest and West Vine Street in Napavine in this 2011 photo to examine the body of a man shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy after allegedly charging the deputy who was on containment duty after an early morning armed burglary report.
The 33-year-old Napavine man shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy after reportedly stabbing a Napavine home and truck with a knife, then charging the deputy early Monday morning, was Steven V. Petersen, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.
Petersen’s cause of death is listed as a penetrating gunshot wound to the head, according to the coroner’s office.
On Tuesday, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office identified Matt McKnight, 27, as the sheriff’s deputy who shot Petersen to death at 2:12 a.m. Monday in the intersection of Second Avenue Northwest and West Vine Street after responding to a report of a burglary in progress at 2:03 a.m. on Northwest Fifth Avenue.
McKnight, a four-year veteran of the department, has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Petersen was reportedly armed with a knife and had attacked a home on Northwest Fifth Avenue by plunging a knife about three times through a front door and also about four times through the hood of a 1970s truck in the driveway before his confrontation with McKnight, the sheriff’s office said.
Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said Petersen failed to follow McKnight’s commands when the two confronted each other in the intersection and would not remove a hand from a pocket before charging at the deputy.
It is still unclear what relationship Petersen had with a victim or victims in northwest Napavine.
Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris said Petersen’s wife had died as recently as four weeks ago and his next of kin lived in Missouri.
Petersen’s wife’s cause of death is still pending investigation, Harris said.
Napavine police said Petersen’s death and his wife’s death do not appear to be connected.
Napavine police officer Silos Elwood said he knew Petersen well and had run-ins with him in the past but added the deceased had no felony criminal history.
The deadly shooting by a law enforcement officer was also the first to occur in Napavine, Elwood said.
The last time a sheriff’s deputy was involved in a shooting was 2003, when a suspect was shot in the arm.
In 2002 a deputy fatally shot and killed a suspect in Rochester after the suspect attacked him following a domestic dispute.
Monday’s incident is being reviewed by a shooting response team with detectives from Mason, Thurston, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.
Sheriff Steve Mansfield said McKnight is “an exceptional employee” who had received positive feedback in questionnaires sent out to the community.
“There are no red flags on this deputy,” Mansfield said. “I want him back here as soon as he’s ready and the investigation is completed.”
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Adam Pearson: (360) 807-8208
