On the evening of September 23, 2023, what initially appeared to be a single-vehicle crash on Tracyton Boulevard NW in Silverdale, Washington, unfolded into a year-long investigation into the death of 25-year-old Bradley Smith. First responders arrived at the scene to find a vehicle that had crashed into a utility pole after striking mailboxes. Inside the driver's seat, Smith was found deceased from a gunshot wound to his head.
The only other occupant of the vehicle, a male passenger, was found outside the car with a bloody shirt, complaining of pain.
The passenger, identified as 24-year-old Zachery Ian Streun of Poulsbo, initially told Kitsap County Sheriff's deputies that Smith had been waving a gun around while they were driving and listening to music, and that he had accidentally shot himself. Streun, who appeared to be intoxicated, described Smith as a good friend he had known for years. However, investigators grew suspicious of this account. An extensive forensic investigation and an autopsy revealed that the fatal injury could not have been self-inflicted. The autopsy determined the gun was fired from an intermediate distance of 10 to 15 inches. Furthermore, Smith was left-handed, and the gunshot wound was to the right side of his head, making a self-inflicted shot biomechanically unlikely.
A year after Smith's death, on September 30, 2024, Zachery Ian Streun was arrested and booked into the Kitsap County Jail. He has been charged with first-degree manslaughter. Investigators also uncovered a social media video made earlier on the day of the shooting that allegedly showed Streun recklessly handling a firearm similar to the one found in the vehicle. Streun appeared in Kitsap County Superior Court on October 1, 2024, where his bail was set at $500,000. He faces the possibility of life in prison and a $50,000 fine.
