Protection orders came from Purdy stabbing home. What to know about them
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- Five people were fatally wounded after stabbings at a Key Peninsula home.
- A woman at the home had previously secured court-ordered protections against her son.
- Protection orders must be served to be enforceable. Here’s what to know about them.
Nearly a year before five people were fatally wounded Tuesday at a Key Peninsula home, a woman who lived there expressed fear of her son and secured court-ordered protection from him that isn’t set to expire until early May.
The protection order, stemming from a petition filed in Pierce County Superior Court, raised concerns about the man’s mental health and alleged threatening behavior. The order prohibited him from contacting his mother, getting within 1,000 feet of her and their shared residence, and possessing dangerous weapons, documents show. He was also required to comply with mental health treatment, according to the year-long court order dated May 2, 2025.
The woman who petitioned for the order, Zoya Shablykina, 52, was identified Thursday by relatives and a man close to the family as one of the victims of Tuesday’s deadly attack.
A 911 caller reported Tuesday morning that a man at their home near the 14000 block of 87th Avenue Court Northwest was violating a no-contact order, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies found the order had not yet been served and were en route to serve it when witnesses reported a man was stabbing people outside the home. Shots were reported after law enforcement arrived.
Authorities have not publicly identified the victims or the suspect, but they have said the suspect was a 32-year-old man — the same age as Shablykina’s son, Aleksandr Shablykin, who was the subject of protection orders she filed last year and also in 2020, The News Tribune previously reported.
Shablykina’s year-long protection order granted last year had not been served, Pierce County Superior Court administrator Chris Gaddis said Thursday.
“The Final Order was valid, but it was not served upon the respondent,” Gaddis said in an email. “The Commissioner signing the Order listed the Tacoma Police Department as the agency to serve the order. The court has no information on what steps the Tacoma Police Department took to serve the Order or to transfer it to any other police agency.”
A temporary protection order, filed about a month prior to the final order, indicated that the woman’s son was at Wellfound Behavioral Health Hospital in Tacoma at the time, court records show, which might explain why TPD was listed as the agency expected to serve the final order.
In an interview Wednesday, TPD spokesperson Shelbie Boyd said she couldn’t discuss the case. In general, the department maintains a dedicated detective assigned to handling protection orders within the agency’s jurisdiction, Boyd said. She didn’t immediately respond to a follow-up inquiry Thursday about any efforts to serve or transfer the order secured by Shablykina.
Protection orders may be filed in the civil court system to shield oneself from domestic violence, harassment and other offenses. Orders must be served to be enforced, according to a Pierce County overview on the process, meaning the individual who is being filed against must know about it. Law enforcement will make an effort to serve the respondent, but a third party who’s at least 18 years old can also deliver the paperwork, court records show.
In this case, a third party reported providing Shablykin with a temporary protection order at the Gig Harbor home and again via text message along with notice of a scheduled court hearing, according to two proof of service documents filed in court in April 2025. Temporary orders generally last two weeks and can be issued immediately until a hearing is held on a full order for protection. Full orders can be in place for a year or more, according to courts and law firms.
Shablykin didn’t show up to court, records show.
The time it takes to serve an order will depend on how many orders there are to serve, Boyd said Wednesday, speaking generally about the process.
Police don’t always immediately know respondents’ whereabouts and should use databases to assist in locating them, according to King County’s guidance on filing protection orders and service. Authorities will not typically investigate further to locate someone, the guidance said.
While an order must be served for law enforcement to enforce an alleged violation of it, people can also report underlying crimes against a respondent not yet served, Boyd said. She offered a broken window as an example, noting that responding authorities will often serve orders against offenders while taking them to jail. When someone who hasn’t been served is reportedly violating an order, the call’s priority is determined by what’s happening at the scene, according to Boyd.
“Our response can fluctuate,” she said.
Washington State Courts advise individuals to keep a certified copy of their protection order on hand at all times. Police who are summoned to a report of an alleged order violation may be able to serve that order on the respondent then and there.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call of a no-contact violation at 8:47 a.m. Tuesday, a responding deputy arrived and shots were reported at 9:33 a.m.
The protection order against Shablykin was a domestic violence order — one of six types that an individual can seek. Domestic violence protection orders “may be filed by someone who is experiencing physical harm, bodily injury, assault, stalking, sexual assault OR who fears imminent physical harm or bodily injury by a family or household member,” according to a Pierce County overview.
There are also protection orders for anti-harassment, vulnerable adults, stalking, sexual assault and extreme risk. Orders can be permanent or temporary, and each maintains varying criminal consequences if knowingly violated, according to legal firms.
Restraining orders are technically different: Those are typically issued as part of an ongoing family law case such as a pending divorce or child custody dispute, legal firms say.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to identify a victim, Zoya Shablykina, and include additional information about the protection order she secured in 2025.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 6:30 AM.
