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Judge, deputy wounded in Wash. courthouse attack

MONTESANO, Wash. — Dozens of law enforcement officers joined the hunt for a man who stabbed a sheriff’s deputy and a judge and then shot the deputy with her own weapon in a courthouse struggle.

A team that included the State Patrol as well as officers from five counties has made “significant headway in identifying the suspect,” Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said late Friday night. “We believe we have some good leads.”

The attacker apparently ran from the county courthouse with the officer’s .45-caliber handgun. The motive for the Friday attack in the coastal town of Montesano, about 90 miles southwest of Seattle, wasn’t clear.

Judge David Edwards and Deputy Polly Davin were treated and released from a hospital hours after the attack, which prompted a lockdown of the small town of about 4,000 residents. The lockdown on schools was later lifted, but afterschool activities were canceled.

As many as 100 officers joined in the manhunt at its peak Friday, Scott said.

Davin had responded to a report of a suspicious person at the courthouse and confronted a man, Scott said. During a struggle, she was stabbed with either a small knife or scissors.

The judge intervened, striking the assailant, who then stabbed him, authorities said.

Davin reached for her gun, but it was wrestled away by the man, who shot twice, striking her in the shoulder before fleeing, Scott said.

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