Almost everything went right early on the morning of February 23, 2012. Shortly before 1:00 a.m. that day, Washington State Patrol Trooper Tony Radulescu made a traffic stop in the small community of Gorst, Washington.

Gorst is a crossroads in Kitsap County, almost directly across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is a mostly military community and is generally supportive of law enforcement. By the standards of a state trooper, Gorst is not a remote location. Two heavily travelled state routes converge at that point. If Tony needed backup, it would be close by.