Exclusive | How did Ryan Kaufman die? What the autopsy and search of his truck showed

The entire shootout that ended Ryan Kaufman’s three-hour trail of murder and arson lasted less than two minutes.

When firefighters dowsed the blaze that consumed his Dodge pickup, they found Kaufman and his dog, Montana, dead inside.

He was surrounded by exploded flares and ammunition that left shrapnel as far as 275 feet away from the truck.

But what happened inside the cab has been at the center of 1 1/2 years of investigation by a team of special investigations unit detectives.

Now a more than 2,000-page report sheds some light on the circumstances surrounding the death of the out-of-work Finley electrician.

But it stops short of answering one of the biggest questions — Who killed him?

Investigators found the 43-year-old was shot twice — once in the chest by a pistol and the other in the head by a rifle. The only shot known for sure to be self-inflicted was from the pistol.

While the Washington State Patrol Crime lab tested the rifle bullet fragment from his head wound, investigators couldn’t confirm it was fired from an officer’s weapon.

The four officers who shot at him were all armed with rifles. But Kaufman also had a rifle.

The autopsy found both shots were lethal. But only the rifle shot would have killed him instantly, said the reports obtained by the Tri-City Herald under the state Public Records Act.

The Regional Special Investigations Unit with officers from Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties included officer and witness reports from Aug. 25, 2021

The statements paint a tense picture of what unfolded before officers even knew the full breadth of the tragic morning.

Kaufman killed three people, including his parents, tried to kill two others, burned three homes and lit more than a dozen fires between Finley and Prosser.

But all that officers knew at the time they began looking for him was that he had busted into his neighbor’s house about 3:50 a.m., while wearing a ballistic vest and Kevlar helmet and opened fire on three men.

One neighbor was wounded and another was missing. Later he would be found dead in his burning home.

They also knew that a series of fires had been lit south of Kennewick and at least one in Richland.

Searching for Kaufman

The final confrontation started when West Richland Police Officer Daniel Flores spotted his Dodge pickup on Kennedy Road, likely only a minute after he set his final fire.

When Flores started his shift at 6 a.m., he was told about the crimes that police knew about the at-large suspect.

During the pre-shift meeting, Benton County Sheriff Deputy Tara Marks spotted Kaufman’s truck on Interstate 82 between Prosser and Benton City.

Flores was told to watch for the orange truck near the intersection of Kennedy and Dallas roads.

As the officer was looking for a place to stop, he noticed the truck approaching the intersection. The truck turned on to Bombing Range Road, and Flores started following.

“As I followed the vehicle at the posted speed limit, the driver appeared to be leaning over into the passenger side of the interior multiple times,” Flores wrote in a statement included in the report.

“Because I knew the suspect was known to be armed with an AR-15 type rifle, I increased my following distance in case he was reaching for a weapon to use against me,” he wrote.

At the time, the gun was described as an AR-15-style rifle, but police now believe it was a shotgun. However, other guns were also found in the burned truck.

At the same time Flores spotted Kaufman’s truck, three Tri-City Regional SWAT Team members were already racing toward where Marks had spotted the pickup.

Benton County deputies Elias Perez and Ivan Hernandez along with Pasco Officer Dave Dillsworth had spent hours outside of the two burning homes in Finley that morning.

Flores continued to follow Kaufman’s truck on Bombing Range Road, while other West Richland officers began to join him. They didn’t turn on their emergency lights as they followed him.

The truck then turned onto Van Giesen Street, Flores wrote. When it reached the 4400 block, smoke started coming from the hood.

It slowly drifted into the oncoming lane. This is when Flores turned on his overhead lights to warn other drivers.

He then jumped the curb in front of the Wash Stop and stopped at 6:29 a.m., according to dispatch records.

Perez and Dillsworth and other officers soon joined him west of the truck, and Hernandez stopped east of it.

Kaufman appears to have put the truck into park after it stopped.

Flores and the three SWAT members all took out rifles and pointed them at the truck. Almost immediately officers heard gunshots. One officer yelled, “Oh s--t, he’s shooting at us!” Flores wrote.

“I noticed the (Kaufman) turn to the right, facing me and shots being fired at an angle toward my direction,” Hernandez wrote. “I recall seeing holes coming through the front right side of the windshield, toward my direction.”

Flores, Hernandez, Perez and Dillsworth returned fire.

Investigators found 28 fired rifle bullets near the police cars. The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab would later find 13 bullet entry points in the truck.

The pickup’s windows were destroyed in the fire, so it’s unknown how many hit the windows.

After that initial exchange, the only shots that came from the now burning truck was shrapnel from ammunition in the cab exploding in the fire.

The fire and detonations made it unsafe for officers to immediately approach the truck. SWAT members eventually used an armored vehicle to get closer.

Who shot Ryan Kaufman?

Matthew Lacy, the medical examiner who conducted Kaufman’s autopsy, said the bullet that struck him in the chest was from a 9mm pistol.

Since none of the officers involved used a pistol, it’s believe to have been self inflicted, Kennewick Commander Randy Maynard wrote in his summary.

Lacy said the shot caused enough damage to eventually kill him, but not immediately, according to his report.

The shot to his head came from a rifle bullet that passed from the front to the back, Lacy said. That shot would have been immediately fatal.

What isn’t clear is who fired that shot. Investigators found a fragment of the .223 caliber bullet but ballistics tests comparing the fragment to the four rifles used by officers were inconclusive.

Lacy said it was possible that Kaufman also shot himself with a rifle but it would have been difficult to prop on it on floor of the truck to fire it.

Investigators found the charred remains of a rifle inside Kaufman’s truck, according to the report. It’s unclear if that rifle was tested.

Crime lab investigators also found a charred flare gun, a burned shotgun and two burned pistol slides.

The autopsy also ruled out that Kaufman was killed by the fire.

Lacy found a high amount of carbon monoxide in his blood, but not enough for the fire to have killed him, said the reports.

This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM.