Bonney Lake woman hit in head by stray bullet identified, dies of wound

Linda Green, a Bonney Lake woman shot in the head by a stray bullet Thursday night, has died.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer confirmed Green’s death Friday afternoon.

“She’s gone now,” son-in-law Paul Culp said through tears on Friday. “She was a loving woman. She’d help anybody in the world. Any time someone was down or needed help with paying a bill or getting a ride to work or anything, she was there to help. Or if they needed food she’d give her last loaf of bread.”

Deputies received multiple calls between 11:10 p.m. and 11:25 p.m. from people who said they heard at least 10 gunshots in the Prairie Ridge neighborhood, according to information from the sheriff’s department.

At 11:30 p.m. a woman called 911 to report her son’s Jeep was stolen from a house in the 12300 block of Prairie Ridge Drive East around 11 p.m. She said he fired shots from a handgun before chasing after the car.

Sheriff’s deputies found a dozen spent casings on the home’s front porch. The 41-year-old man told deputies he was sure he hit his Jeep because he saw the back window shatter, according to sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer.

At 12:15 a.m. another call was placed to 911 about CPR in progress at a house in the 12400 block of Prairie Ridge Drive. Medics found the 61-year-old woman on the floor with a head wound and requested police presence when they realized it was a gunshot wound.

The woman’s son called 911 after going into her room to check on her when he heard strange breathing noises, according to reports. He found his mother on the floor and thought she injured her head from a fall, according to reports.

Authorities found a bullet hole in the woman’s bedroom window, which was roughly in line with the car theft victim’s residence, according to Troyer.

“With gun rights come gun responsibilities,” Sheriff Paul Pastor said in a prepared statement. “I believe that people should be able to defend themselves. But the way they do it, the methods and the approaches they use, must be applied with care and responsibility. They must consider possible consequences of actions.”

The man’s car was found at 3:40 a.m. in a cul-de-sac about a mile from the home where it was stolen. The Jeep had at least one bullet hole in the back window. Deputies don’t know if the suspect was hit.

The 41-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and has been cooperative with deputies, according to Detective Sgt. Gary Sanders.

Troyer said those charges would be amended because the woman has died.

“This is a very unfortunate incident,” Sanders said. “One crime leads to something so much more substantial and unfortunate.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Bonney Lake woman hit in head by stray bullet identified, dies of wound."