PORT ANGELES, Wash. -- Police on Thursday arrested a 50-year-old man after three bullet-riddled bodies were discovered at a Port Angeles compound on New Year's Eve.
According to the Peninsula Daily News, a Washington State Patrol SWAT team raided the suspect's property in the 2500 block of Lower Elwha Road. A Clallam County sheriff's deputy said the SWAT team executed the search warrant around 7:30 a.m., calling it a complex scene with multiple structures and people living on the property.
The suspect was taken into custody and is being held without bond in the Clallam County Jail for investigation of three counts of second-degree murder. Detectives told the newspaper the suspect was believed to be involved in the deaths but stopped short of calling him the shooter. Q13 News is not yet naming the suspect because formal charges have not been filed.
A community stunned
The gruesome scene was discovered during a welfare check by deputies Dec. 31 in Port Angeles. Family members of the people who live there told police they hadn't heard from their relatives since Christmas and were concerned.
Investigators found the bodies of 57-year-old Darrell C. Iverson and his son 27-year-old Jordan D. Iverson covered by tarps and debris in the front of the house where they lived.
The younger man's girlfriend, 26-year-old Tiffany A. May was also discovered in a locked outbuilding. Officials say May was Jordan's girlfriend and is believed to have been living at the home.
Investigators believe the killings happened on Dec. 26. The Clallam County Sheriff's Office said dozens of shots were fired by one shooter.
There's a history of transient people staying on the property but none were there when investigators arrived.
The sheriff called this the first triple homicide in Clallam County since at least the 1970s.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.