He was fatally shot on Pierce County plumbing job. His mom is suing his killer
The mother of a plumber fatally shot on the job in Spanaway has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against her son’s convicted killer, court records show.
Crispina Lorezca, also acting as the personal representative of Thomas Lorezca’s estate, sued Jacques Dothard this month in Pierce County Superior Court.
Dothard, 57, was sentenced in July to 21 years in prison after earlier pleading guilty to second-degree murder for killing 40-year-old Thomas Lorezca, a longtime employee of Seattle-based Beacon Plumbing.
The victim was in his work truck outside Dothard’s home on May 23, 2022, where he had been called to for a repair job when Dothard shot at him roughly seven times with a pistol through the driver’s side door, according to charging papers.
The shooting, in the 1000 block of Military Road, occurred after Lorezca allegedly hit and damaged a gate on the property, court records show.
Dothard, an Army veteran who suffered from mental health and substance abuse issues, was seen by a neighbor bringing “bags of guns” to a neighbor’s home following the killing, according to charging papers. Pierce County sheriff’s deputies searched Dothard’s and a neighbor’s residences and discovered weapons and ammunition, including a 9 mm handgun, a Ruger Mini 14 rifle, approximately 20 fully loaded rifle magazines, a ballistic vest and more.
“Defendant Jacques Noel Dothard’s acts were done with the intent to cause Thomas Lorezca apprehension of harmful and/or offensive contact,” the lawsuit said. “(Dothard) had the present and apparent ability to carry out the threatened harm.”
The suit, filed April 22, said that Dothard’s mental health ailments and use of legal and illegal intoxicants made it “unreasonably dangerous” for him to possess a firearm. It also noted that Dothard was prohibited by law from having any firearms due to a prior criminal conviction. It alleged that he acquired the murder weapon from an unknown person, who’s also named as a defendant in the complaint but referred to as “John Doe.”
Dothard was convicted in 1996 of residential burglary in Clark County and in 2007 of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in King County, The News Tribune previously reported.
As part of his murder case, Dothard was convicted of one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, court records show.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages to be proven at trial, legal fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
An attorney representing Thomas Lorezca’s mother declined to comment Tuesday. Dothard had no noted legal representation yet in the civil matter, according to court records, and a message left with his criminal defense attorney was not immediately returned.
During the sentencing in July, Dothard said he took accountability for his actions and didn’t feel sorry for himself, The News Tribune previously reported.
“The most difficult reality that I face is the fact that I killed Thomas Lorezca,” Dothard said.
Lorezca was described at the hearing by Beacon Plumbing owner Bill Cahill as someone who had invested much time in training other plumbers and played a major role in improving their lives.
“There were so many people who showed up for his funeral,” Cahill said. “It was overwhelming, the number of people, and the families that had had an impact. It was a real dark day.”
