The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man shot and killed by deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office during an incident near Onalaska on Monday.
Kenny Roger Risley, 53, was airlifted following the shooting. He died in Tacoma.
As of presstime, the medical examiner had listed both the cause and manner of death as pending. The postmortem examination report was listed as being in progress.
The medical examiner’s case details note that the incident occurred at 11:57 a.m. March 16 in a public space in a ZIP code belonging to the area of Cinebar.
A spokesperson for the state Office of Independent Investigations (OII) indicated that the agency plans to release the names of the deputies involved in the shooting early next week.
OII took over the investigation on Monday, as required by state law in the event of an officer-involved shooting.
On Monday, Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza confirmed to The Chronicle that a man had died following gunfire. He called the incident a “sad and unfortunate event.”
Snaza added that his thoughts were with those involved with the fatal incident and their families.
On Monday evening, the sheriff’s office issued a news release regarding the incident.
“On March 16th, 2026, Lewis County Deputies received a report of a male subject in the area of Cinebar who was in distress,” the release stated. “Deputies located the subject in his vehicle and attempted to communicate with him. The subject eventually exited his vehicle and approached the Deputies, armed with a firearm.”
According to the release, Risley did not comply with the deputies’ commands, which prompted the use of less-lethal bean bag rounds “in an attempt to stop the subject.”
It is unclear what exactly happened before additional rounds were fired.
“Two deputies fired at the subject with their patrol rifles,” the release stated. “The subject was airlifted but was later pronounced deceased.”
The sheriff’s office noted in its release that the information provided was preliminary and that the investigation — which had been turned over to OII — was ongoing.
“Once the OII investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the designated local Prosecutor’s Office for review,” the release stated.
