Mayhem: Tacoma police suspect link between a drive-by shooting and a vehicular assault
Tacoma police suspect two incidents that left a man and woman with life-threatening injuries in South Tacoma early Saturday morning are related.
A 32-year-old woman was struck by gunfire in a drive-by shooting, and around the same time, a 24-year-old man was hit by a pickup truck driven by a man suspected to be driving under the influence.
Both victims were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The 47-year-old driver who struck the pedestrian was arrested and booked into jail for investigation of vehicular assault, driving under the influence and first-degree assault.
The incidents both involved a black pickup truck, police said, and they were reported less than two miles from each other.
Tacoma Police Department officers responded to the drive-by shooting in the 3500 block of South Union Avenue after South Sound 911 received a call at 1:38 a.m. from a woman who said she had just been shot there, according to a news release from the department.
When police arrived, they found the injured woman near a Tacoma Public Utilities guard shack and started life-saving measures. She was transported to a local hospital.
A passenger in the front seat of the woman’s vehicle was uninjured. The man told police the woman had turned left onto South Union Avenue from South 35th Street when a vehicle pulled up alongside them and fired gunshots into their car.
Police said the shooter was described as a man in a black pickup truck.
At about the same time as the 911 call, police said a TPD sergeant witnessed a black pickup truck hit a 24-year-old man in the 5200 block of South Tacoma Way. Police said the driver — the sole occupant of the vehicle — pulled out a handgun, and officers called for backup.
The driver was detained and arrested without incident, police said.
Life-saving measures were provided to the 24-year-old man struck by the pickup truck, and he was transported to the hospital.
Investigations into both the drive-by shooting and the vehicle versus pedestrian collision are ongoing.
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 12:38 PM.
