Local News

Man Dies From Self-Inflicted Wound

Apr 18, 2018

Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers says a Texas man with a warrant for his arrest who shot himself in the head this morning on Highway 97 in Okanogan, died from his wounds at Mid-Valley Hospital.

Rogers said the man was identified as 32-year-old Eric A. Morgenroth.

He said, an attempt to locate had been put out on Morgenroth by Texas Marshals. Morgenroth was wanted on a felony warrant for Sexual Assault of a Child and officials believed he was armed. Rogers said the suspect vehicle had been spotted early this morning in the Chelan area possibly heading north toward the Canadian border.

At 8:10 AM Deputies from the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol and officers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted the 2015 Jeep Wrangler with Texas plates on Hwy 97 near the south access into Okanogan.

The Sheriff said officers initiated a stop on the vehicle; Morgenroth slowly came to a but ignored orders from Deputies on scene. Rogers said “Three minutes after the stop the suspect put a pistol to his head and shot himself.”

Morgenroth was transported to Mid-Valley Hospital where he died from the self-inflicted gunshot wound.

There was no one else in the suspect vehicle and Rogers said Morgenroth did not point his weapon at the Deputies or Officers on scene and law enforcement did not fire their duty weapons.