The sale of a malfunctioning handgun prompted a shooting outside a Fife motel

A shooting outside a Fife motel was over a gun that didn’t work properly.

Motel employees told police a 29-year-old man came to the motel three to four times a day looking for a man he claimed sold him a malfunctioning gun.

On July 13, several people called 911 when they heard gunshots ring out.

Surveillance footage showed the man approach the driver of an SUV before the passenger got out and confronted the man.

The man returned to his Jeep and started to drive off, but stopped and again yelled back and forth with the passenger.

The passenger “suddenly dives back toward the interior” of the SUV and the man in the Jeep sped away.

Police pursued the Jeep, which went more than 80 mph and ran stop lights and stop signs before stopping on a Puyallup road.

Witnesses said the man got out and ran and a woman behind the wheel drove away. A K9 searched but could not find the man, but police found his wallet, hat and a shoe.

The man is a gang member with a state Department of Corrections warrant for escape, records show.

He was arrested July 17 after an officer spotted him at a convenience store.

A handgun was found in his car.

On Friday, he was ordered held on $1 million bail after pleading not guilty to first-degree assault, attempting to elude a police vehicle and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.