Coroner IDs man who died in Thurston Co. Sheriff’s Office shooting Tuesday
A man who died in a Thurston County Sheriff’s Office shooting in the Olympia area Tuesday has been identified.
Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock identified the man as Todd Bass, a 44-year-old Lacey resident. His cause of death is pending an autopsy scheduled for Friday, Warnock said.
Bass died in a shooting just after 2:40 p.m. in the 3200 block of Hoffman Road Southeast, which is near Margaret McKenny Elementary School. Thurston County deputies fired their weapons following a high-speed pursuit that ended with both Bass and the pursuing deputy crashing their vehicles, The Olympian previously reported.
A deputy initiated the pursuit at about 2:37 p.m. on Yelm Highway Southeast, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release. The deputy reportedly attempted to stop Bass for allegedly speeding at about 90 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone.
The Sheriff’s Office and investigators have only offered vague descriptions of how the shooting specifically unfolded.
The Sheriff’s Office news release states Bass ran after the crash. Deputies reportedly ran after Bass after allegedly hearing shots in a backyard.
At some point, “shots were fired and the suspect was struck by gunfire,” according to the release. Lt. Mike Brooks, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, told The Olympian on Tuesday that deputies fired their weapons but declined to share further information.
The Sheriff’s Office has instead directed media inquiries to the Office of Independent Investigations.
On Wednesday, The Olympian asked OII spokesperson Hector Castro to share more details about the shooting, such as to confirm who shot Bass, how many deputies fired their weapons and whether Bass was armed.
Castro declined to answer questions, citing the active investigation and internal review process for the release of public information.
“To explain the complexity of that would be for me to share aspects of the investigation I really can’t just yet,” Castro said. “All I can really say is that it’s not always as simple, as straightforward, as it may seem. There are aspects of it that do have to be confirmed.”
Castro said OII will likely release the name of “the involved deputy” in the next few days. When asked if that meant one deputy shot the suspect, Castro said he could not confirm that right now.
The Sheriff’s Office news release states a passenger ran away from the vehicle Bass drove, and that they were “apprehended” with the help of a K9 dog.
It’s unclear what happened to that passenger. Castro said OII only has authority to investigate the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers. He said he did not have information about the passenger.
The Olympian has asked Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders to clarify whether the passenger was booked into jail on suspicion of a crime.
OII will detail its findings in a final report once it completes the investigation, Castro said. That report will be posted to oii.wa.gov and will be forwarded to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for them to consider possible charges, per procedure.
OII, the newest state agency, has only completed four investigations in the last two years, according to its website. The investigations have typically taken many months to complete. OII released its latest final report last month, over 10 months after the initial incident.
The Washington State Legislature created the OII in 2021 to independently investigate cases in which police use deadly force, according to the agency’s website. The agency is still actively investigating an incident in which a Lacey police officer fatally shot a man on Jan. 21.
This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 2:40 PM.
