The video shows a traffic incident before a police officer fatally shoots a man in Washington state

EVERETT, Wash. (KOMO) – According to authorities, a Washington State Patrol (WSP) trooper shot and killed a man armed with a hammer who was involved in a “road rage incident.”

The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team (SMART) said police responded to the traffic accident on the shoulder of Interstate 5 near Marine View Drive in Everett just after 4 p.m. Thursday.

SMART spokeswoman Courtney O’Keefe said the man rammed a Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) contractor’s vehicle and an elevator that was parked on the side of the road. The elevator had two WSDOT contractors on board and was operating over the swamp.

Video captured by KOMO from a WSDOT traffic camera shortly after the incident began shows what appeared to be a physical altercation between the man and at least two WSDOT contractors on the side of the road before the fatal shooting. O’Keefe confirmed to KOMO that the altercation was the result of a road rage incident.

***WARNING: The following video contains graphic content. The following program contains scenes that may offend your moral sense.***

“There’s a barrier here that separates I-5 traffic from where the employees are, so the suspect drove around that and started ramming their vehicles,” O’Keefe said.

The video shows the man chasing a WSDOT contractor around the car while another contractor can be seen in the elevator. The pursued contractor then jumps over the barrier, but the man is able to grab him and begins attacking him from the other side of the barricade.

***WARNING: The following video contains graphic content. The following program contains scenes that may offend your moral sense.***

After the man stops attacking the contractor, he can be seen in the video walking back to his car and getting in. A WSDOT contractor then attempts to stop the driver, but reverses the vehicle and nearly hits the worker on the side of the road.

The driver then sped forward and appears to have nearly collided with a WSDOT contractor vehicle that had two workers on board and was traveling across the swamp. The video then shows the man getting out of his car and getting into the WSDOT contractor’s vehicle.

It is currently unclear if the man was attempting to steal the vehicle, but he only sat in the driver’s seat for a few seconds before getting out and running across the highway during rush hour.

In the video, a WSP trooper can be seen driving to the scene on the other side of the highway as the man runs across the road.

The SMART said the man was armed with a hammer and “an altercation ensued between the suspect, WSDOT contractors and a Washington State Patrol trooper.” The man was shot by the police officer during the altercation.

Police administered first aid to the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The WSDOT contractor who was attacked suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to SMART.

Shortly before midnight, all northbound lanes of Interstate 5 were reopened to traffic.

SMART is leading the investigation.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Officials initially said the workers involved were WSDOT employees, but in an update Friday morning said they were WSDOT contractors.