[chris]

An employee at a Seattle power-equipment store fatally shot a burglary suspect who was carrying a chain saw and held a second intruder at gunpoint until officers arrived, according to police and The Seattle Times.

The shooting happened about 11:20 p.m. on April 14, 2011, at Sharp's Outdoor Power Equipment at 5931 Fourth Ave. S. in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood, police said. The store had been broken into before, and the 59-year-old employee's presence there late at night was not unusual, according to investigators.

Police said the employee confronted two men inside the store. One of them, identified as 46-year-old James Philip Stapleton, was carrying a chain saw and was shot in the head near the front of the business. Stapleton died at the scene.

The employee held the second suspect, a 49-year-old man, until police arrived, according to The Seattle Times. That man was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of burglary.

Officers interviewed the employee and released him, police said. Detectives indicated that any problem with the legality of his firearm would have prompted them to act at the time. Whether the killing was justifiable was left to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Under Washington law, a homicide can be ruled justifiable when a person uses deadly force to defend against someone committing a felony or posing an imminent danger.

An archived recording of the 911 call from the shooting runs about seven minutes.