A man stabbed four people to death in the street in a town west of Tacoma, Washington, on Tuesday morning after violating a no-contact order, the Pierce county sheriff’s office confirmed to local news outlets.

The four stabbing victims, as well as the 32-year-old suspect, are confirmed dead, the sheriff’s office said. Three of the victims died at the scene, while a fourth was taken to a hospital and later died from their injuries, authorities said.

At about 8:40am, Pierce county sheriff’s deputies received a call from a home for a violation of a no-contact order. They obtained a copy of the order, learned it was not valid because it had not been served on the suspect and headed to the scene to provide it to him.

As police were heading to that location – a home on a cul-de-sac in a census-designated town called Wauna – several emergency calls reported a man stabbing people in the street at the same address.

Witnesses said at least one of the victims was stabbed in the middle of the street in front of multiple onlookers. The first deputy arrived within about three minutes and shots were fired.

Chris Cardenas, who lives just a couple minutes driving from the street where the stabbings occurred, said he was washing his truck in his driveway when he heard the gunfire.

“All of a sudden I just heard like a series of gunshots,” he said. “You could really hear it echoing through the trees.”

Pierce county court records show that a woman who lived at the address last May obtained a one-year protection order against her 32-year-old son. She wrote that he had mental health and substance abuse issues, had previously pushed her, and more recently had threatened her by saying that her “grave has been already dug up”.

The son had been “threatening me, abusing me both mentally and emotionally. Doing witchcraft/occult behavior and doing rituals in my home,” the woman wrote. “Damaging personal belongings. Hurting my cat … I am an elderly disabled woman and he is taking advantage of me and my health.”

The records show that the son had notice of a hearing before the issuance of the restraining order but did not appear for it. The protective order required him not to possess dangerous weapons; to stay 1,000ft (305 metres) from his mother, her vehicle and her address, which they had shared; and to comply with a previously prescribed mental health treatment plan, including medication.

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Pierce county officials are investigating the incident.

Wauna has a population of about 4,100 and is on the Key Peninsula.

Associated Press contributed reporting

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