A Whatcom County SWAT team fatally shot one suspect and arrested another Sunday evening while attempting to apprehend two people wanted in connection with a critical shooting in Ferndale. Luis E. Fernandez, 36, of Bellingham was killed at the scene. Kayla C. James, 38, also of Bellingham, was taken into custody without further incident and booked into the Whatcom County Jail. The incident took place on April 26, 2026 at a property in the 7700 block of Kendall Road in Maple Falls, Washington.
The events leading to Sunday's confrontation began in the early hours of April 25, when Lummi Nation Police responded to a shooting in the 3500 block of North Red River Road in Ferndale. A 34-year-old man from Ferndale was left in critical condition after the attack. Investigators with the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office developed information identifying Fernandez and James as suspects in that shooting, and tracked the pair to the rural Maple Falls property approximately 30 miles east of Bellingham along the North Fork of the Nooksack River.
The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office Special Response Unit, which includes the Crisis Negotiations Team and a multi-jurisdictional SWAT team with members from Lynden and Ferndale Police Departments, was deployed Sunday evening to the Kendall Road property. During the process of taking Fernandez into custody, shots were fired. Fernandez was struck and died of his injuries at the scene. No law enforcement officers were injured in the operation. James was booked on probable cause for Lummi Nation Police Department charges including two counts of attempted homicide, robbery, and residential burglary, in addition to multiple outstanding local warrants.
Bellingham Police Department is the lead agency conducting the independent Law Enforcement Multi Agency Team investigation into the officer-involved shooting, known as LEMART. This independent review process is required under Washington state administrative code, specifically WAC 139-12, which mandates that officer-involved shootings be investigated by an agency separate from the one whose officers discharged a weapon. The BPD Crime Scene Investigators were serving search warrants at the Kendall Road property on Monday to gather and catalog evidence, while BPD's Detective Division is working to build a timeline of events.
The FBI is involved because the original Red River Road shooting on April 25 occurred within Lummi Nation jurisdiction, making it a federal matter. The Lummi Nation Police Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have concurrent jurisdiction on tribal lands, and shootings in those areas typically involve federal investigators. Anyone with tips about the original Ferndale shooting can contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Maple Falls is an unincorporated community in eastern Whatcom County, situated in the foothills northeast of Bellingham along Highway 542. The Kendall Road corridor runs north of the community through rural residential and agricultural land. Officer-involved shootings in remote Whatcom County locations are uncommon, and the deployment of the multi-agency SWAT team reflects the seriousness with which authorities treated the two suspects, who were connected to a near-fatal attack.
The LEMART investigation process, while independent, typically takes several months. Investigators are required to examine all available evidence, interview witnesses, and produce a report. That report is then reviewed by the prosecuting attorney's office, which determines whether any charges against officers are warranted. In Washington, the standard for charging officers in use-of-force incidents has shifted in recent years following state legislative changes.
Community members who were in the area of the 7700 block of Kendall Road in Maple Falls on the evening of April 26 and observed anything related to the incident are encouraged to reach out. The LEMART tip line is 360-778-8611, and an electronic tip submission is available at cob.org/tips. Investigators are particularly interested in witness accounts that could help reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the confrontation.
No further details have been released at this time regarding the condition of the Ferndale shooting victim from April 25, or about any additional charges that may be filed against James in connection with that incident. Bellingham Police Department has indicated it will release additional information as the investigation progresses and as details are confirmed.
