A 66-year-old Freeland man’s unusual death in Ocean Shores on Thanksgiving was ruled a suicide, according to the Grays Harbor County coroner.
Michael Butts had barricaded himself from police in a motel room and started a fire after attacking a police officer and the motel owner with knives. He died from smoke asphyxiation, Grays Harbor County Coroner Lane Youmans said.
Chief Russ Fitts said investigators likely will never know what led Butts to the altercation that resulted in tragedy, but he hypothesized he may have been trying to provoke an officer into shooting him.
Not only was it Thanksgiving, but it was Butts’ birthday.
“In my experience, there’s no such thing as a coincidence,” he said. “Anniversary dates kind of get stuck in people’s heads.”
Fitts described the series of events leading up to Butts’ death in a statement.
The owner of the Westerly Motel, he wrote, contacted police in the morning of Nov. 27 to report that a guest, later identified as Butts, had been taking pictures off the walls of his room and setting them in the parking lot.
The officer accompanied the owner, a woman, to Butts’ room in order to evict him.
The officer looked around and found Butts standing behind a shower curtain, armed with two kitchen knives. He lunged at the officer and owner with the knives raised.
The officer shoved the owner out of the room and ordered Butts to drop the knives while pointing a Taser at him. Butts dropped the knives but continued coming at him. The officer tased him.
Nevertheless, Butts managed to kick the officer, who escaped from the room as Butts threw a chair.
Butts barricaded himself in the room as more officers from the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office, State Patrol and the Ocean Shores Police Department arrived on scene. The officers tried to contact Butts but received no response.
After about 25 minutes, the officers spotted flames and smoke coming from the room. They broke windows in an attempt to contact Butts but saw him lying on the floor. They forced open the door and pulled Butts from the burning room, administering CPR as the fire department arrived.
Butts was transported to Grays Harbor Community Hospital, where he later died.
