Port Angeles woman shot by trooper once in chest, twice in back, coroner’s report says

Rosa Hammer, a Port Angeles woman killed during a confrontation with a State Patrol trooper in August, was shot once in the chest and twice in the back, a coroner’s autopsy report says.

Hammer, 27, was shot at close range Aug. 9 by the trooper, Ron Kessler, who had stopped a pickup truck in which she was riding in Gorst, south of Bremerton.

Kessler was shot in the hand during the incident, allegedly by Hammer.

In addition, a report by the State Patrol’s Toxicology Laboratory — also obtained this week by the Peninsula Daily News — said Hammer’s blood tested positive for marijuana, amphetamine and methamphetamine, among other substances.

Medicines dispensed by emergency personnel at the scene were also discovered in Hammer’s system, the toxicology report says.

This entire report appears in the Friday/Saturday Clallam edition of the Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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