Wash. Amber Alert update: Boy safe, father dead

(Update: Boy safe; father died of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound)

A man who stabbed his estranged wife in Spokane Valley, Wash., on Tuesday and abducted his 5-year-old son, prompting an Amber Alert, released the boy at a home in St. John, 50 miles to the south, and fatally shot himself shortly thereafter, authorities said.

Washington State Patrol canceled the AMBER Alert in the early afternoon, hours after the early-morning stabbing.

Authorities said Tuesday evening the suspect, 41-year-old Justin Robertson, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long standoff south of Spokane in St. John.

Deputies tell KHQ that he shot himself shortly after he released his son, 5-year-old Ethan Robertson.

WSP said Robertson broke into a home located at 12808 E. Blossey Avenue in Spokane Valley and stabbed his estranged wife multiple times. He then took their child and headed in an unknown direction.

Robertson’s wife was taken to Sacred Heart, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Police said the stabbing victim’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

KXLY reports deputies responded to a panic alarm at the home and heard a woman inside the home screaming for help. They went in through an open back door and found the woman bleeding from stab wounds.

The woman told deputies she had recently served her husband with divorce papers.