“It is horrifying to learn of today’s shooting death of an Eastern State Hospital employee. My heart goes out to the family and loved ones of the victim, and to all employees at Eastern State who have been affected by this terrible act and the loss of their colleague. I am grateful to the deputies and first responders who prevented any further harm to Eastern State employees or patients and ensured the safety of nearby residents.
“Our state employees do important and sometimes dangerous work in service to the people of Washington. They and all employees deserve safe workplaces. In the Legislature, we have been working to address workplace violence as we’ve seen increasing incidents of it here and across the country. In the 2025 session, we passed a bill to strengthen our state’s workplace violence prevention laws in healthcare settings, to better protect those who dedicate themselves to keeping Washingtonians safe and healthy. We will continue to look at what additional actions we can take at the state level to prevent these types of incidents and keep workers safe as they do their jobs.”