***UPDATE*** 11:30am PST
The man suspected of fatally shooting a 44-year-old State Patrol trooper this morning has been hospitalized with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A Kitsap County sheriff's SWAT team went to the home of the registered owner of a pickup connected with the trooper's slaying, according to a sheriff's department spokesman. As they approached the home around 10 a.m. the officers heard a single gunshot.
One law enforcement source initially said that the man was dead. However, Kitsap County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ken Dickinson said that the suspect has been taken to Tacoma General Hospital.
The truck is registered to Joshua J. Blake, a 28-year-old felon who served prison time for manufacturing methamphetamine, the source said. The State Patrol confirmed that Blake is the man suspected of killing the trooper, Tony Radulescu.
Blake had been on state Department of Corrections supervision until last August when he was released early because of a change in the law, sources said. Last year, a friend of Blake's contacted authorities to say that he had made threats to harm or kill police if he was ever arrested again, a law enforcement source said.
Radulescu, 44, was assigned to the State Patrol office in Bremerton. He was a 16-year veteran, according to the State Patrol.
Radulescu had stopped Blake's pickup at 12:57 a.m. on Highway 16 near Gorst and radioed the vehicle's location and license plate number in to radio dispatchers to have them trace the name of the owner. Radulescu never called back, State Patrol Chief John Batiste said during a news conference Thursday morning.
A Kitsap County sheriff's deputy went to the scene and found the wounded trooper. He was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center, in Tacoma, and pronounced dead.
"It's a very sad day for the Washington State Patrol," said Batiste. "He was a father and peer to many of us who was dearly loved. He served this country in the military and was with this organization for about 16 years."
Batiste said that he has spoken with Radulescu's son.
Batiste said that Radulescu "had a great personality, a real sense of humor" and was highly sought after to speak at local schools in the community. He said that the man's son is in the military.
"We're all hurting, I'm hurting," Batiste said.
Friends said Radulescu was born in Bucharest, Romania, and was fluent in Korean, Italian, Spanish, English and Romanian.
Blake, the pickup owner, has a criminal history that includes a guilty plea in 2008 to eluding police. He was also convicted in 2005 of first-degree malicious mischief and violation of a domestic-violence no-contact order.
A relative of Blake's was emotional when reached by telephone Thursday morning.
"We're really sorry for the officer and the family," said the woman, who declined to give her name. She also declined to discuss Blake.
Investigators said that three hours after Radulescu was found, officers located the suspect's truck abandoned on a county road near Port Orchard, about two miles from the shooting scene. Troopers, deputies and other officers searched the area for the driver using dogs and checking residences, Winger said. Residents were urged to stay inside and call 911 if they saw anything suspicious. Dogs did not pick up a track, Winger said.
The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office is heading the investigation, Batiste said. FBI agents, U.S. Marshals and officers with the Department of Corrections are also involved in the manhunt.
Dozens of patrol cars with lights flashing escorted an aid car carrying the trooper's body about 6:30 a.m. Thursday from the hospital to the Pierce County medical examiner's office.
Theresa Meyers, who lives next to Blake, said that the rural property has long been known by neighbors as a place to avoid.
"They have a locked gate with the 'keep out' sign. They have a dogs and you hear rifles being fired," Meyers said. "When we first moved in there were people who would come in all day and night to that property, but then there was a drug bust at that property and it slowed down for a while."
This morning's slaying marks the 27th time a State Patrol trooper has been killed on duty, Batiste said. The last trooper slain was James Saunders, 31, who was shot in 1999 during a traffic stop in Pasco. Nicolas S. Vasquez pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
