Gig Harbor woman killed in shooting identified; Diane Perron was ‘neighborhood grandma’

This story has been updated

A Gig Harbor man arrested in the shooting a 76-year-old neighbor he accused of scaring off wildlife in his yard has been charged with first-degree murder, according to court records.

Mark Allen Erisman, 58, pleaded not guilty at arraignment last Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Alicia Burton set bail at $1 million.

The 76-year-old woman was shot to death in her Valley View Drive home on Saturday evening, Oct. 3, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. She was identified by the medical examiner’s office as Diane Michele Perron.

Erisman had mental health problems, neighbors said, and had to be calmed by deputies as recently as two days before the shooting, when he was heard ranting about killing himself.

The man thought his elderly neighbor was setting up devices to scare away birds from his outdoor bird feeder, said a neighbor, Vila Ramsey. The devices were actually security cameras, Ramsey said, because the woman was afraid of her neighbor, who often acted strangely.

Deputies came to the man’s house again a few hours before the shooting because he had been heard threatening another neighbor, a sheriff’s spokesman said, but they couldn’t find him.

Threats to hurt himself

Two days before the shooting, on Oct. 1, sheriff’s deputies and a mental health responder contacted Erisman because he had been yelling threats that he was going to hurt himself, according to court records.

Erisman seemed frustrated with his neighbor, Diane Perron, who he thought had scared off wildlife in his yard.

“He declined resources and calmed down significantly after being contacted,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.

On Saturday, Oct. 3, Erisman called 911, again talking about wildlife disappearing.

“A mental health co-responder again contacted the defendant, who was very agitated and demanded to speak to deputies after ‘finding a device’ in his neighbor’s yard,” the probable cause statement said.

Erisman later again threatened to hurt himself, and deputies who responded to his home about 3:15 p.m. weren’t able to find him, according to Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.

About an hour later, Erisman’s nephew called 911. He told dispatchers Erisman called him and said he’d shot somebody.

“He told his nephew that he was in trouble, and that he was going to turn himself in,” the probable cause statement said. “The nephew reported that he believed that his uncle had undiagnosed mental health issues.”

Someone who used to work with Erisman also spoke to deputies. She allegedly said Erisman showed up at her home and said he shot a woman seven times.

Erisman reportedly told the co-worker the shooting “... had something to do with the wildlife not coming to his home anymore, and he thought that the female victim had an ‘electronic repellent device,’” the probable cause statement said.

She also said Erisman was upset that no one showed up when he called a suicide hotline.

Deputies went to his neighborhood again about 7:30 p.m. It looked like Diane Perron’s door had been kicked in. They found the 76-year-old dead inside the home in the 6500 block of Valley View Dr. NW, five shell casings inside the front door, and one shell casing in the driveway.

“The medical examiner determined that the victim died as a result of the multiple gunshot wounds, and declared the manner of death to be homicide,” the probable cause statement said.

Neighborhood grandma

Ramsey said Perron was “the neighborhood grandma,” beloved by everyone, but she was frightened by her neighbor, who frequently yelled and ranted, and once tried to break into her home while drunk.

“Two days before she was killed, he was outside as loud as can be, yelling profanities,” said Ramsey. He talked about shooting himself.”

“He came out and confronted police and vented with an officer for an hour and a half to two hours,” she said. ”The officer did a good job in counseling, but he just left him with his number.”

Ramsey, who is a psychologist, said she considers the tragedy a failure of the mental health system.

The deputies “told us if someone is going to shoot themselves, they will just do it.,” she said. “That’s true, but you should seriously take that as a massive warning sign. He wasn’t getting what he needed psychologically.”

Five gunshots

Ramsey said she and a number of neighbors heard what they now think was at least five gunshots, but at the time they weren’t sure.

“There are a lot of people with saws and people who do construction,” she said. “A number of people heard it, but they wondered if it was other equipment, fireworks, drills.”

After finding Perron dead, deputies learned that Erlisman might be in North Tacoma, and requested help from the Tacoma and Ruston police deparments, according to Troyer.

Erisman’s vehicle was found about 9 p.m. on Ruston Way, and he was walking nearby.

He was detained without incident and reportedly said, “You got me,” and, “The gun is in the car,” the probable cause statement said.

Erisman allegedly asked, “Is she dead?” and said: “I cried out for help so many times and no one helped me. I was yelling for help, but no one helped me.”

“You got me dead to rights,” he said, according to court records.

Compassionate neighbor

Katrina Knudson, the city of Gig Harbor’s community development director, is another neighbor.

Perron “was the most caring, compassionate neighbor you would ever want to have,” Knudson said. “You dream about having neighbors like her.”

“I’ve lived here for 15 years with my family and Diane watched my son every Wednesday. She walked my dog when he was a puppy. They don’t make people like her. It’s a huge loss.”

Ramsey said the woman set up video cameras in her front yard two days before she was killed, because she was afraid her neighbor would try to break in again.

“When he first moved in, she invited him to coffee, opened him up to the neighborhood. That was three and a half, four years ago. Soon after that he got drunk, she said she won’t let him in, he tried to break in, she called 911, they took him back to his place. That was around three years ago.

“He started coming over and peer in through her window, he did a number of creepy things after trying to break in.”

Ramsey said the woman warned her about her neighbor.

“She could tell he was going off the deep end. She was telling me two days before she passed that she hoped the police would take the man away. She told me ‘Don’t go down there, don’t go near him.’ ”

Depressed and lonely

Ramsey said the man was depressed and lonely. He told her once he had moved to the area to be close to his family, but they never visited.

“I don’t know what he did for a job, but I know he didn’t like it and didn’t want to go to it anymore. He felt like he didn’t have support there, he didn’t think he couldn’t go to the churches to get support. Stuff wasn’t working, and then you had the lockdowns on top of this.”

When Perron started putting up security cameras, “unfortunately, it fed into his psychosis,” Ramsey said.

“When she put up equipment, it made him more paranoid that people were out to get him, that the neighborhood was watching him. She was watching him, because she was scared.”

“I heard him ranting about Amazon potentially watching him, about certain lights going off, which was true because of the motion sensor lights.

Talked about murder

“Two days before the woman was killed, he talked about shooting himself and murdering a number of the neighbors, and I was hiding. The police officer came out, I was out here for about a good hour. The police officer tried to bring up counseling, but he said he couldn’t because of the mask requirement and felt like he was demonized. He felt very isolated because of the lock down.”

Ramsey said it’s alarming that the situation could have been much worse.

“This easily could’ve turned into not only a murder-suicide, but a multiple murder-suicide,” she said. “He threatened multiple people in this neighborhood.

“What’s sad is he was definitely calling out for help before these murders. I heard his call for help, but it got ignored. They set out the evaluation person, we had the police here ... he realized he was off on the deep end and constantly said how lonely he was.”

Just ‘snapped’

According to court records, Erisman told a deputy that he saw Perron getting her mail and that she ignored him when he asked, “Why would you do this to me?” regarding the missing wildlife.

He called 911 and “said that instead of being contacted by law enforcement, he was contacted by a mental health co-responder, which upset him,” the probable cause statement said.

Erisman said he planned to kill himself but changed his mind.

“He reported that he later just ‘snapped’ and grabbed his gun and walked to the victim’s residence,” the probable cause statement said. “He stated that he fired one round at the ’frequency device’ (surveillance camera) and then kicked in the victim’s front door.”

He saw Perron in the doorway and shot her, he allegedly told investigators.

In asking for the $1 million bail, deputy prosecutor Lisa Wagner told the court the state is worried Erisman could be a danger to himself and to other neighbors.

Correction: An earlier version of the photo caption reversed the identification of the two houses on Valley View Dr. NW

This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 3:47 PM.