The Columbia Basin Investigative Team is releasing this information regarding the incident at 644 2nd Ave NW in Ephrata on Friday June 20.
Officers responded around 2 p.m. from a call from a female saying there was a domestic violence assault at that residence. Arriving officers found an adult female and child outside the home and a man inside the home holding a knife and bleeding from the chest. The man was subdued by several officers and transported to Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata where he died a short time later.
Coroner Craig Morrison identified the man as Craig Dempsey, age 22, place of residence Leavenworth, Wash. An autopsy was performed Saturday. Coroner Morrison ruled the cause of death as a self-inflicted stab wound to the chest.
A protection order was in place ordering Dempsey to have no contact with the female living at the home. Police had responded to previous incidents at that home regarding domestic violence assaults.
The Columbia Basin Investigative Team is investigating. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Brian Jones at 509-764-3887.
More information will be released as the investigation moves forward.
Grant County Sheriff’s PIO Kyle Foreman is the media contact for this incident. He can be reached at 509-760-3713, [email protected].
====Approved for release by Det. Sgt. Brian Jones====
