He shot at a stranger after an ‘unprovoked attack’ outside a Tacoma convenience store
A man prohibited from having a gun is accused of shooting at a stranger during an unprovoked attack at a Tacoma convenience store.
The 27-year-old is being held on $5,000 bail after pleading not guilty Friday to first-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The shooting took place Nov. 12 at a gas station on South Sprague Avenue.
After police investigated the incident, officers arrested the suspect Jan. 20.
Charging papers give this account:
The suspect was a passenger in an SUV that pulled into the parking lot of the convenience store. He walked inside to buy what he later told police were cigarettes.
While inside, the clerk said he fought with another man and was asked to go outside after pulling a screwdriver out of his pocket.
As the men continued their argument, surveillance footage shows the man walking backwards, tripping over a bicycle and firing a single round at the other man.
He then allegedly fired several shots into the air.
The other man fled on foot, the suspect got back into the SUV, and it left the area.
Officers responded to the scene on a shots-fired called and watched footage of the incident.
In it, the suspect is seen wrapping his arm around the neck of the other man, leading police to believe “the attack appears to be completely unprovoked,” Pierce County prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
Police were able to track down the suspect because he left his name and phone number with the clerk in hopes of getting a job, records say.
At the time of the shooting, the suspect had an order of protection against him. That means he was prohibited from possessing any weapons.
After he was arrested, the suspect claimed the other man nudged him in the store and during their continued fight outside, the other man jumped on him when he tripped over the bike.
That’s why he fired “a warning shot,” the man said.
Although he admitted to carrying the paperwork for the order of protection, the suspect tried to claim he had been given the gun the night before and was unaware he couldn’t have weapons.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 8:55 AM.
