Man arrested for pulling gun on kids in Tacoma park, police say

A Tacoma man was arrested after brandishing a gun at a group of kids who were in a city park Saturday afternoon, according to police.

The 35-year-old was booked into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of six counts of first-degree assault and one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Officers were dispatched to a weapons brandishing at Oak Tree Park, 7400 S. Cedar St., just before 12:30 p.m. Saturday, police spokeswoman Loretta Cool said.

The man told police a group of five children, ages 11 to 16, were teasing the man and throwing rocks at him and his tent, Cool said, and that made him angry. The man chased the kids off and pointed a gun at them as they ran away.

Angelique Hall was at her nearby home Saturday with her nieces when her nephew and two of his friends came in and told her their bicycles had been stolen as they biked through the park, she said.

The 33-year-old thought at first that the boys were pulling a prank on her, but she loaded them and her nieces into her vehicle and drove to the park.

Hall saw the three bicycles unattended, leaning against a lamp post outside an RV in the parking lot.

The boys went to pick up their bicycles when the man came at them with the handgun again, screaming “I’ll shoot everybody,” Hall said.

Hall said she stepped between the man and the boys, distracting him as they got their bicycles. When the man saw them again, he pulled his gun out and put it in Hall’s face.

The boys rode off, and Hall and her nieces got into her vehicle. She said the man followed her with the gun, so she sped off and called 911.

“No child should have to be scared to go to a park and get their bikes stolen and a gun pulled on them for no reason,” Hall said.

Officers arrested the man without incident and recovered the gun.

This story was originally published August 26, 2018 at 10:50 AM.