Man accidentally shoots Lakewood woman after botched drug deal, prosecutors say
A man accidentally shot a woman Friday in Lakewood while trying to shoot someone who tried to rob him during a botched marijuana deal, according to charging documents.
Reniel Muniz-Suarez faces three counts of first-degree assault and one count of drive-by shooting, according to court documents submitted Monday. Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set his bail at $500,000.
According to court documents:
Police responded to an apartment complex in the 3500 block of 92nd Street South and found a woman with a gunshot wound to her shoulder.
She said she and her 3-year-old daughter had just walked back to the complex from a nearby restaurant when she heard gunshots and felt pain from the wound.
She said she fell to the ground and covered her daughter until the shooting stopped.
Officers did not find suspects at the time, but learned of an incident at a nearby convenience store and watched surveillance footage there.
Video showed three people in a car in the store’s parking lot as another person walked up and talked with them. Someone in the car handed the man something, and the man pulled a pistol, pointed it at the car and ran away.
Two men, one with a limp, got out of the car to chase the man. The man walking normally went toward the apartment complex, then came back to the car, which left.
Detectives were able to get the license plate number off the car. Police found a bag of marijuana in the parking lot.
Police found the car Sunday at a nearby business with the same three people in it.
The driver told police she took the men to a marijuana sale and had known the person they were meeting since high school.
The man the group met said he wanted to look at what they were selling. Then he pulled the gun and tried to run.
Muniz-Suarez chased the man and shot at him, but hit the mother instead. The other man had a recent gunshot wound to his leg, which explained his limp.
Police found a 9mm handgun that matched shell casings left near the apartment complex, as well as the gun’s bill of sale.
They said it was accessible only from the seat when Muniz-Suarez had been.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published April 3, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Man accidentally shoots Lakewood woman after botched drug deal, prosecutors say."