Bonney Lake-area landlord accused of shooting 82-year-old tenant’s son during dispute
A man accused of shooting his 82-year-old tenant’s son during a dispute about parking and raising her rent has been charged with first-degree assault.
The 68-year-old pleaded not guilty at arraignment Monday and was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Charging papers give this account of what happened:
The son dropped off his mother Sunday at her home on 130th Street East, south of Bonney Lake.
He said the landlord was upset about how close they parked to his vehicle. He told the landlord he was getting too upset, at which point the landlord pulled out a gun and started shooting.
The son was shot in the chest, then he and his mother made it back to their vehicle and headed for a fire station. His wife also was with them.
Deputies found and detained the landlord without incident.
According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, he allegedly told them:
“I don’t know why you guys need to have me in cuffs. It was clear cut self defense. All I did was raise her rent and then her son was coming at me aggressively, so I defended myself. He was a bigger guy, so I feared for my life.”
The landlord allegedly told a detective that he got back from the grocery store, saw the tenant was home, then put his gun in his pants and went to ask her not to park close to the stairs and to tell her he was raising her rent.
“When asked why he needed to put a gun in his pocket to speak to an 82 year old female, the defendant could not give a good reason for doing so,” the probable cause statement said. “After the interview the defendant wanted to know how many of his rounds struck the victim.”
