Oregon Public Broadcasting

For the fifth time in two years, a Washington State law enforcement officer has been killed by a criminal out on probation. The latest incident happened this weekend when a Forest Service police officer was gunned down on the Olympic Peninsula. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

It happened near Sequim this weekend. 36-year old Shawn Roe allegedly shot and killed the Forest Service officer and a nearby resident before he himself was killed in a shootout with police.

An arrest warrant for Roe was pending, but had not yet been issued. It stemmed from late August when Roe failed to meet with his probation officer following his release for a misdemeanor crime.

The death of Officer Kristine Fairbanks comes less than three weeks after Skagit County Deputy Anne Jackson was allegedly killed by a parolee in a shooting spree that left six dead.

This makes five officers killed since 2006 by offenders on community supervision in Washington State.

But Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, says because all the cases are different there’s no one fix.

Chris Gregoire: “It’s going to be hard to figure out the lessons. They’re not common among these individuals so we need to rethink, relook and ask ourselves what more can be done to prevent this from ever happening again.”

Gregoire did not offer specifics on what kind of changes she thinks are needed.

The Governor is still awaiting a report on the criminal history of Isaac Zamora, the accused shooter in the Skagit County killings earlier this month.