by Luke Putvin
Josh McClure, sergeant with the Edmonds Police Department, spoke to members of the press on March 16 to share the latest details regarding the February 21 homicide at the 7-11 on Highway 99. The victim was Nagendiram Kandasamy, 64, of Edmonds.
Information the EPD received led them to two persons of interests. One was identified as a 23-year-old male from Enumclaw who had an outstanding arrest warrant from the Department of Corrections for escape from community custody; his initial crime was identity theft, but he had ten felony convictions. The other person of interest was a 24-year-old female from Auburn who also had an outstanding arrest warrant from the DOC. Her initial crime was robbery in the first degree, and she had one felony and multiple misdemeanor convictions.
“Our detectives partnered with local and regional law enforcement which led them to an address in the 40100 block of 180th Ave SE in the Enumclaw area,” McClure said.
“Due to both of the subjects’ criminal histories and the nature of the crime we were investigating, the north sound metro SWAT team was used to approach and contact the residents around 11 p.m. on Saturday night. Neither of the persons of interests that had warrants were willing to come out of the residence. During this incident, we were told that they were armed and barricaded in the home.”
The standoff lasted several hours, and the SWAT team at one point used tear gas to compel the subjects to come out of the residence, but they did not comply. Eventually, the SWAT team and a K9 team entered the residence, and the two persons of interest were taken into custody. No one was injured. EPD detectives spoke with the persons of interest before they were booked by the corrections office on their warrants.
“The Edmonds Police Department would like to thank the Mountainview Fire and Rescue, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office major crimes unit, the King County Sheriff’s Office, Auburn PD and the Department of Corrections for their help over this weekend. We would also like to thank the community for their patience as our detectives have worked tirelessly to get to this point, but we still have work to do,” McClure said.
Anybody with further information or who may know the subjects in question is urged to contact EPD at (425) 771-0212 or at their email: policetips@edmondswa.gov. Additionally, one could go through the CrimeStoppers website or app.
