Plumber was shot on job in Spanaway. What happened after his mom sued killer?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A mother filed suit against her son’s convicted killer, but decided to drop the case.
- Crispina Lorezca sued Jacques Dothard, who killed Thomas Lorezca in Spanaway in 2022.
- Thomas Lorezca, a Beacon Plumbing employee, had been called to Dothard’s home for a job.
The mother of a plumber fatally shot on the job in Spanaway has voluntarily dismissed 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 last year in Pierce County Superior Court.
The filing cited Dothard’s mental health and substance-abuse issues, saying it was “unreasonably dangerous” for him to possess a firearm and also illegal because he was barred by a prior criminal conviction. It also alleged that Dothard, 59, had acquired the murder weapon from an unknown person who was named “John Doe” as a second defendant in the complaint.
Crispina Lorezca asked the court late last month to dismiss the case after electing not to pursue the action any longer, according to a filing by her former attorney, Cashton Sessler. The filing didn’t indicate the plaintiff’s reasons for wanting to end litigation and Sessler didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
The case was subsequently ordered dismissed April 27, court records show.
Dothard didn’t have legal counsel in the civil case, but he wrote a letter to the court late last month also seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, court records show.
Thomas Lorezca, 40, was a longtime employee of Seattle-based Beacon Plumbing. He was in his work truck outside Dothard’s home on May 23, 2022, where he had been called for a repair job, when Dothard shot at him roughly seven times with a pistol through the driver’s side door, according to criminal case records.
Thomas Lorezca allegedly hit and damaged a gate on the property prior to the shooting in the 1000 block of Military Road, according to court records.
Dothard, an Army veteran, was sentenced to 21 years in prison in July 2024 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
During Dothard’s sentencing, Thomas Lorezca was described by Beacon Plumbing owner Bill Cahill as someone who invested much time in training other plumbers and played a major role in improving their lives. Cahill noted that his funeral was well-attended.
“It was overwhelming, the number of people, and the families that had had an impact,” Cahill said during the hearing. “It was a real dark day.”
