Murder charges filed against suspect in fatal shooting of Monroe correctional officer

Snohomish County prosecutors have charged 22-year-old Dylan Picard in the fatal shooting of a Monroe correctional officer in early September.

On the night of Sept. 7, Daniel Spaeth noticed a deer crossing the road near his home in Snohomish, Washington. He and his wife then stood in their driveway to slow oncoming cars to help the deer across.

As his wife turned away to direct traffic, she heard a gunshot. She turned back to see her husband shot and lying in the road.

She told police that she had seen two people in a black sedan “tailgating” a green Jeep Cherokee, and that both cars had driven off.

After she called 911, a handful of bystanders helped her provide aid to her husband, before he eventually died at the scene.

After gathering evidence and witness statements, police identified Picard as a suspect in the shooting. Picard was pulled over by police in Lake Stevens and arrested, telling police that he had “shot somebody.”

In his interview with detectives, Picard admitted to shooting a man on the road outside Spaeth’s home. Picard detailed how he had seen a man in the road “yelling at the Jeep” in front of him and hitting it with his hands. After that, Picard grabbed his gun out of his front seat shifter and fired it to “scare” Spaeth and his wife, claiming he didn’t know that he had hit someone at the time.

On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Picard with second degree murder.