What did Dylan Picard do? Man charged in fatal shooting of Snohomish County corrections officer Dan Spaeth

Dylan Picard, a 22-year-old from Lake Stevens, Washington, has been accused of fatally shooting Dan Spaeth, a Snohomish County Corrections Officer. Dylan was charged with second-degree murder, according to The Washington Post. It is worth noting that Dan Spaeth was shot outside his house while he was helping a deer cross the road on Thursday, September 7, 2023. Upon arrival at the scene, responding officers of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office found bystanders trying to save Spaeth's life.

A fundraiser has been launched by one of Dan's friends to meet funeral expenses and provide some financial assistance to the Spaeth family.

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Dylan Picard, accused of shooting a corrections officer, sped off after the incident

A horrific shooting took place at the 1600th block of South Machias Road north of Snohomish, Washington on Thursday, September 7, 2023. Authorities received a report of a shooting in the area at around 7:45 pm local time, when a woman called them, claiming her husband had been shot.

The victim was identified as Dan Spaeth, a Snohomish County Corrections officer. Dan's wife, Alissa called 911 after Dylan Picard allegedly shot her husband. The Monroe prison employee was trying to slow the traffic down to help a deer cross the street when he was shot. His wife said that while Dan was trying to slow down the traffic heading north, she was doing the same for the southbound traffic.

Alissa said that neither she nor Dan were on the road when the shooting took place. She also noted that it wasn't uncommon for drivers to speed up in the area. Alissa said that she suddenly heard a "pop" sound while the couple was trying to slow down the traffic.

When she turned around, she found her husband, Dan lying on the ground with a gunshot to his chest. Two cars also reportedly sped by the victim who was lying on the ground.

Alissa told the police that these were a green Jeep Cherokee followed by a four-door sedan. A neighbor who came outside after hearing the noise also stated the same when asked about the vehicles.

Alissa also told the cops that she saw the suspect, Dylan Picard in the sedan. He allegedly had a firearm on him which looked black and white in color with "some type of light, laser or attachment on top."

Shortly after this, she called 911 to report the shooting, and soon, responding officers, along with a medical team arrived to check on the victim. Several bystanders tried saving him but he was pronounced dead at 8 pm local time.

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The 22-year-old accused allegedly felt threatened which led to him shooting the Corrections Officer

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) Det. Kendra Conley wrote in an affidavit that the couple was trying to alert the traffic in front of their house so the deer was safe. The Snohomish County deputies began investigating the scene of the crime and found security footage from a restaurant that was around 0.1 miles away from the scene.

The footage captured the dark-colored Jeep Cherokee, and the silver or light-colored Sedan pass by. The SCSO deputies used the footage to recover more details about the Sedan and the driver, Dylan Picard. The information was distributed among local law enforcement agencies.

An off-duty SCSO officer spotted a car that looked similar to the one in the restaurant's security footage on September 8, 2023.

The vehicle was on Hartford Drive and 131st Avenue Northeast in Lake Stevens, where authorities arrested Dylan Picard. When they asked Picard if he knew why he was being taken into custody, he said that he had "shot somebody."

Dylan Picard reportedly told the cops that the shooting had occurred the night before and that the firearm he had used was in his car. Police discovered the firearm and also noted that it had a round flashlight along with two lasers and black tape as well as some white paint on it.

Authorities asked Dylan Picard to reveal the chain of events that took place that evening. He said that he was driving in the neighborhood, and had planned to head towards South Machias Road. When he reached in front of Dan's house, he allegedly saw Spaeth waving his hands at the car in front of him and hitting it too.

According to Picard, he felt threatened and scared, which prompted him to grab his firearm. When the victim approached Dylan Picard's car, he only thought to fire a shot to scare the couple away and did not intend to shoot.

He also claimed that he saw Alissa, Dan's wife, trying to take out something from her purse. However, footage showed that she had no bag or purse with her during that time. As mentioned earlier, after the arrest, the suspect was charged with second-degree murder.