Investigators examine killer’s cause of death
STACEY MULICK; Staff writer
Pierce County sheriff’s detectives are looking into whether the gunman who killed a Tacoma special education teacher Friday also killed himself.
“There is a possibility he shot himself,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said Monday. “We are waiting for forensics results and the Medical Examiner’s Office’s findings.”
The Medical Examiner’s Office has done an autopsy on the gunman, Jed R. Waits, 30. It determined he died of a gunshot wound to the head but has yet to say whether he committed suicide or died from being shot twice by a sheriff’s deputy.
The Sheriff’s Department on Monday identified the deputy who shot Waits as Eric Honeycutt, 37. He has been with the department for 11 years.
After the shooting, Honeycutt was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure. He’s expected to return to work today, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
Waits was killed about 20 minutes after fatally shooting Jennifer Paulson, 30. Witnesses told Tacoma police that Waits killed Paulson as she walked to Birney Elementary School, 1202 S. 76th St.
Waits fled, and a short time later Honeycutt spotted Waits’ vehicle, which pulled into the parking lot of a day care center off 160th Street East. Waits got out of the car and pulled a gun. Both men fired their weapons. Waits was hit; Honeycutt was not.
Stacey Mulick, staff writer
