‘It’s alarming’ — State Patrol responds to two Pierce County highway shootings Sunday

March isn’t over yet, but shootings on state highways in Pierce County are approaching the total recorded through all of 2021, according to the Washington State Patrol.

State troopers responded to two such incidents Sunday. That makes 23 highway shootings since the beginning of the year, said Trooper Robert Reyer, state patrol spokesman. The total number of highway shootings for all of 2021 was 31.

“We can definitely notice a trend that is very alarming,” Reyer said. “This is only troopers, too. That does not include Tacoma police. It does not include the (Pierce County) Sheriff’s Department. I hope this trend will end soon. It’s bad.”

The first incident came at 4:42 p.m. when a 911 caller reported shots fired on the exit ramp from northbound I-5 to South 38th Street, Reyer said. A passenger in a white minivan, described as a man between 17 and 25, fired multiple shots at another vehicle.

The shots hit the other vehicle, but the driver was not injured, Reyer said. The minivan continued onto 38th Street. Troopers and investigators were searching for it Sunday evening. The exit ramp was closed for more than an hour.

The second shooting, unrelated to the first, turned out to involve a BB gun. It was reported at 7:02 p.m. A caller said shots were fired into northbound traffic from a silver Honda Accord occupied by two people, headed south on state Route 161 (Meridian) at 120th Street East. No one was hurt.

“All we know right now is the 911 caller reported the driver was brandishing a black handgun and started shooting into northbound traffic,” Reyer said Sunday evening.

The Accord pulled into the parking lot of a Rite-Aid store at 128th Street, Reyer said. The driver, a 31-year-old woman also identified as the shooter, left the car and entered the store. The passenger, a 23-year-old man, stayed in the car. State troopers reached the scene and arrested both people.

Investigators found the BB gun in the center console of the Accord. The woman was arrested on suspicion of DUI, Reyer said. While the gun turned out to be a BB gun, Reyer still counts the incident in the county’s overall tally.

“We are still counting it as a shooting incident,” he said. “A BB gun can still hurt somebody and cause damage.”

A third reported highway shooting incident at Thorne Lane in Lakewood turned out to be a false alarm, Reyer said.

This story was originally published March 20, 2022 at 8:34 PM.