Federal Way cop on History channel’s ‘Top Shot’

Federal Way Police Commander Kyle Sumpter is a contestant on season four of History’s Top Shot. (Photo: HISTORY /Top Shot)

After hiding his whereabouts from fellow officers, a local police commander has surfaced as a contestant on the History channel’s popular competition show, Top Shot.

Federal Way Police Commander Kyle Sumpter is among 18 contestants on the show’s fourth season, although the field was narrowed to 16 within moments of the premiere on Tuesday.

Top Shot showcases some of the world’s most skilled marksmen as the contestants compete for a $100,000 prize, a professional shooting contract, and the title of History’s “Top Shot.”

Competitors are faced with a variety of marksmanship challenges, to include advanced sniper rifles, flintlock pistols, grenade launchers, canons and primitive weapons.

The first challenge tested the marksmen’s skills with an M14 infantry rifle.

“I was like an 8-year-old going to Disneyland for the first time,” Sumpter said of being chosen to be on the show. “I had a huge smile on my face that I tried to wipe off so I could look a little bit meaner or tougher.”

Sumpter has over 20 years of law enforcement experience, including 12 years on a SWAT team. At 50, he is the oldest contestant ever to be given a spot on the show.

“I would like to be known as the harmless old guy,” Sumpter told cameras during the first episode. “But I am the silent assassin who sends them home one at a time.”

While his shooting skills propelled him through the first round of competition, it was Sumpter’s personality that made him easy to cheer for.

“What you see on Top Shot is who he is 100 percent,” said Cathy Schrock, public information officer for the Federal Way Police Department. Members of the department watched the first episode together at a viewing party in Tacoma.

“The first time my image appeared on the screen, the whole room erupted with cheers,” Sumpter said. “It turned out to be a lot of fun.”

Watch the first episode of ‘Top Shot’

Sumpter, who said he was worried about how he would be portrayed, had perhaps the most memorable line in the first episode, saying the stress of a pistol competition made him want to eat his hat.

“Quite honestly, that is exactly how I felt during that pistol challenge,” he said. “I almost took my hat off and stuffed it in my mouth.”

When he showed up for a patrol briefing at work Wednesday, he said his fellow officers had scrawled the line on a whiteboard.

“Somehow that has stuck,” he said.

Sumpter told only his chief and deputy chief that he would be gone to film the show, convincing others he was visiting his son in San Diego. While filming has ended, he is forbidden from disclosing the results.

By BRANDI KRUSE, KIRO FM Reporter