The man was switching from one anchor to another when he fell. He was not able to complete the switch, Sky Valley Fire confirmed.
INDEX, Wash. — A man in his 20s has died after he fell 200 feet while climbing in Index on Thursday.
The man was climbing at Town Wall, which is considered a "climber's trail" in Index. The Washington Trails Association notes the trail is "steep, features cliffy drop-offs and is extremely eroded." The Index Town Wall draws climbers from around the region and is a dangerous spot known to first responders.
The man was switching over from one anchor to another while climbing, but wasn't able to completely click into it, according to Sky Valley Fire.
The department attempted a rescue, but that turned into a recovery mission after they discovered the man had died.
The man's body was turned over to the Snohomish County medical examiner. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office will investigate further what led to the man's fall.
Back in 2023, a man who was climbing that same wall was killed after falling due to an "equipment failure."
RELATED: Volunteer firefighter dies in Index rock climbing accident
More recently, a climber was injured at that same climbing wall back in April. A 47-year-old woman was climbing about 60 feet off the ground with two others when she fell from the Lower Town Wall onto a ledge that was 30 feet below.
Officials said the woman hurt her knee and head in the fall. She was treated for injuries at Providence Hospital.
RELATED: Woman climbing Index Wall falls 30 feet
Let's Go Washington, the backers of the 2024 initiatives, is looking for signatures again.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Let's Go Washington is back in the initiative game.
The organization, founded by Brian Heywood, sponsored several initiatives in 2024 changing state law.
Heywood announced Monday signatures are being gathered to submit two initiatives to the 2026 state Legislature or potentially voters. The initiatives relate to parental rights and trans youth athletes.
Heywood's organization achieved significant victories last year when voters supported initiatives restricting natural gas use and overturning state laws limiting police pursuits. The state Legislature also passed Let's Go Washington-backed measures banning income taxes and guaranteeing parental rights to access school records. The success came after Heywood invested more than $5 million of his own money into seven initiatives.
"Someone has to stand up and fight back. And what I think I've done is given the voice. I've given voice to 1.2 million people who signed at least one of our initiatives," Heywood said.
However, the organization faced a setback earlier this year when Gov. Bob Ferguson signed legislation overhauling the "parents bill of rights" initiative.
"It stripped all the parts about parental notification or parental access to information," Heywood said.
In response, Let's Go Washington is now gathering signatures for two new campaigns. The first seeks to overturn Ferguson's recent law, restoring their original parental rights initiative. The second would require physicians to assign genders to youth athletes during physicals, prohibiting those considered males from competing against females.
"Allowing biological males to compete in girls sports is a blatant, a flagrant violation of Title IX, I would argue, and also extremely unfair to girls who've worked really hard to get in a position to be top athletes," Heywood said.
Despite failing to pass initiatives targeting the state's climate law, long-term care savings program, and capital gains tax in 2024, Heywood remains optimistic about his organization's impact.
"Four out of seven, I'm pretty, pretty happy with what we did, and we're not done," he said.
If the organization can collect enough signatures by the end of the year, the issues would be submitted to the state Legislature. Lawmakers could either pass the initiatives or let voters decide in November 2026.
The suspect has yet to be charged in the violent robbery of Macklemore's home but faces charges in several other robberies.
SEATTLE — The man suspected in a violent robbery of Macklemore's Seattle home pleaded not guilty to a separate robbery charge on Thursday morning.
Patrick Maisonet, 29, is accused of being the getaway driver in a robbery of a Bellevue jewelry store in November 2024. Maisonet was on electronic home monitoring at the time of the robbery after being charged in an unrelated Seattle armed robbery in May 2024.
While Maisonet has been charged in both of these prior robberies, Seattle police have yet to refer charges against anyone in the robbery of Macklemore's Capitol Hill home. Maisonet is considered the "primary suspect" in the Macklemore robbery, according to a release from the Seattle Police Department after he was arrested.
On Saturday, June 7, two men broke into the home of Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, around 12:45 a.m. A 22-year-old woman working as a nanny for the family was attacked with bear spray. The two men entered the home through an unlocked door.
A police report states children home at the time were unharmed. Macklemore was not at home at the time, according to Seattle police.
According to a police report, one of the men ordered the other to "spray" the nanny with bear spray. They had her show them where the valuables were in the residence, stopping to search through drawers, cabinets and closets before placing jewelry, watches and shoes into bags, the police report said.
Later, one man threw the nanny to the ground, at one point putting a boot on her neck and taking her phone. When she started to scream, they got her up, pinned her to a wall and tried to cover her mouth. However, she bit one of the man's hands and was able to run out of the house through a bathroom.
The nanny escaped to a nearby home and called 911.
The suspects were gone by the time police arrived.
Police later recovered items that were taken during the robbery, including a Seattle Seahawks championship ring, Seattle Sounders FC Championship ring that had the victim’s name engraved on the side, and a diamond tennis bracelet.
Since then, Seattle police worked with the King County Sheriff's Office and Renton police, who were digging into other high-profile burglaries of sports stars and celebrities in the region, some of which have led to arrests.
On Aug. 21, the King County Valley SWAT Team served a search warrant on the suspect's home in Renton and he was arrested on outstanding warrants for first-degree robbery, second-degree escape and booked into custody for a robbery investigation out of Bellevue.
The man, who has not been officially charged for the latest robbery, is being held in King County Jail on $750,000 bail.
On Aug. 27, police also arrested the owner of a New Holly jewelry store where the stolen items were recovered. A judge found probable cause for first-degree trafficking stolen property and third-degree possession of stolen property. The owner was released on his own personal recognizance.
Kipp Robertson contributed to this report.
