No motive apparent in Tacoma mass shooting. Suspected gunman to be in court Monday
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Mass shooting in Salishan neighborhood
Four people were shot dead in Tacoma’s Salishan neighborhood Thursday evening. Stick with The News Tribune as we report the latest in this developing story.
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A man suspected of fatally shooting four people in Tacoma’s Salishan neighborhood chased down one of the victims who tried to escape before firing two more gunshots, court documents say.
On Monday, Pierce County prosecutors charged Maleke Dominque Pate, 22, with four counts of aggravated first-degree murder for the Oct. 21 deaths of Maria Nunez, 42; her son, Emery lese, 19; Nunez’s brother, Raymond Williams, 22; and Williams’ girlfriend, Natasha Brincefield, 22.
Pate was arrested Friday with the assistance of a SWAT team at his home, just blocks from where the victims were gunned down in the 4200 block of Everett Street.
Investigators say they still don’t know the motive behind the quadruple homicide, but don’t believe it was a robbery. They said the victims were not associated with gangs or drugs, and continue to look for a connection between Pate and the four people he shot.
He attended fifth grade with one of the victims, records say.
Pate was scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon.
Charging papers give this account of the shooting:
Police were called about 4:25 p.m. that day by several people who reported hearing multiple gunshots, and seeing victims lying on the ground and a man running away from the scene.
The first officer to arrive came across lese lying on pavement outside the home.
Unsure whether the gunman was inside the home or not, the officer dragged lese behind a vehicle for cover and started CPR. He, Nunez and Brincefield were pronounced dead at the scene. Williams was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
Medical examiners said Williams was shot in the back of the head and the right shoulder. Brincefield and lese were also shot in the head.
Officers found a woman hiding in a closet inside the home, shaken after witnessing the shootings.
She had just returned from work and was in her bedroom when she heard two gunshots, records say. She looked out the window and saw three of the victims inside a Mercury Grand Marquis stopped in the alley. She also saw a man, later identified as Pate, pointing a gun at them.
That’s when lese allegedly took off running in an attempt to escape.
The woman “saw him trip and fall and then roll on his back and put his hands up,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers. “The defendant approached E. lese, bent over him, and pointed the gun directly at him. The (woman) then heard two more gunshots.”
Witnesses reported hearing up to nine gunshots.
A police dog searched the area but could not track the suspect, who was captured on various surveillance cameras walking to and from the scene. He was wearing “easily identifiable” clothing, records say.
Detectives sent out a bulletin to local law enforcement with photographs of the suspect and a school resource officer recognized Pate as a former student at Mount Tahoma High School. That ID led to his arrest Friday.
When police searched his home, they allegedly found a 9mm handgun believed to be used in the homicides, as well as ammunition and targets.
“The targets were silhouette type targets that showed that the defendant had been practicing head shots,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 12:47 PM.
