Suspected gunman in trooper’s death dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound

A man found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following the search for a suspect in the murder of a Washington State Patrol Trooper died Thursday.

Josh Blake is known to law enforcement for meth convictions, Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer said, being careful not to call him a suspect in the shooting of Trooper Tony Radulescu. But he was the registered owner of a pickup truck that Radulescu pulled over just before he was shot to death.

Blake was a reported felon who went to jail for making methamphetamine.

Chad Lewis with the Washington State Department of Corrections said Blake had made threat to a friend about killing an officer when he found out he had an arrest warrant out last year. Police caught him the next day, but his DOC supervision ended in August 2011.

“We don’t know for certain if this is the person we’ve been looking for,” Kitsap County Sgt. Ken Dickinson told 97.3 KIRO FM.

Radulescu, 44, had stopped the pickup around 1 a.m. Thursday on Highway 16 near Gorst and radioed the location and license plate number, said Trooper Russ Winger.

When Radulescu didn’t respond to status checks, a Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy went to the scene and found him wounded. Radulescu was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma where he was declared dead.

Radulescu was a military veteran with a son in the area who is a soldier, Patrol Chief John Batiste said at a news conference at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was well-known and popular in the community where he often spoke in schools, Batiste said.

Boyer said Radulescu would be remembered for his warmth.

“He could write somebody a ticket and they’d say `thank you,’ ” Boyer said.

An aid car carrying Radulescu’s body was escorted by dozens of patrol cars with lights flashing from the hospital to the Pierce County medical examiner’s office where the autopsy would be conducted.

Hours later, officers found the pickup truck Radulescu had stopped abandoned on a county road near Port Orchard, about two miles from the shooting scene.

Investigators tracked Blake to a home near Port Orchard. As SWAT team officers approached, they heard a single gunshot. Blake was taken to Tacoma General Hospital, where he died later in the day.

Radulescu was a 16-year veteran who worked out of Bremerton.

“He worked in the Kitsap area for quite some time,” Winger said. “He was a co-worker of mine.”

The last time Radulescu was heard from was when he made the traffic stop.

“He routinely called the stop, license and location,” Winger said. “He failed to answer status checks.”

“We’ve lost a co-worker, and the citizens of Washington have lost a humble public servant,” said WSP Chief John Batiste. “Tony was the kind of person everyone wanted to be around, including me. I truly enjoyed working with him.”

Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick called him an outstanding person and tremendous State Trooper. Lovick said on 97.3 KIRO FM’s Dori Monson Show, “I learned so much about leadership, about how to treat people, and he just took the time to talk to people to present such a positive attitude and that’s why he’s going to be missed so much. It’s just such a sad, sad, day for all of us.”

Batiste said funeral arrangements are pending. Several of Radulescu’s family members live out of state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.