Two 20-year-olds tried to burglarize a Puyallup home but were shot instead, police say
Prosecutors have charged two suspects who were shot during a burglary last month in Puyallup, according to court records.
The two 20-year-olds entered an apartment March 23 and the tenant who lives there shot them, charging papers allege.
Both men are charged with first-degree assault and first-degree burglary.
One pleaded not guilty at arraignment Wednesday and the other did the same Thursday. Both were ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
A third suspect was also charged, but has not yet appeared in court.
Prosecutors said they’re not filing charges against the 19-year-old tenant.
Charging papers give this account of what happened:
Police responded to the shooting in the 3100 block of East Main Avenue and found one of the 20-year-olds in the parking lot. He’d been shot in the chest and buttocks.
They found the other 20-year-old at a nearby business, after the third suspect told an officer his friend had been shot in the chest and needed help.
Neighbors told police they heard gunshots and someone calling for help. One then went outside, saw the injured man in the parking lot, and gave him first aid.
The tenant who fired told police he fell asleep on the couch watching TV “with his 9mm Beretta handgun on the coffee table,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said, and “admitted that he had been selling THC oil and cocaine.”
When he heard the door open and woke up, he thought it was his roommate, but then saw three men in masks.
One had a handgun with an extended magazine and another had a shotgun, and he couldn’t tell if the third was armed, he told police.
The tenant started shooting at the trio and they left. He later said he went to elementary school with the two men he shot.
Investigators found at least eight bullet holes in the walls. There was also one in the couch and one in the wall behind where the tenant had been “indicating that the suspect with the handgun was shooting back,” the probable cause statement said. Investigators don’t yet know who had which firearm.
Prosecutors said other charges might be filed as the investigation continues.
