There has been a significant jump in police shootings in Pierce County so far this year
Police in Pierce County have shot seven people so far this year, a significant jump from previous years.
That follows a national trend from 2021, which saw the highest total of fatal police shootings since at least 2015.
Law enforcement officials said it’s hard to figure out why police shootings are up but suggested an uptick in violent crime and legislation that changed policing could play a role.
“It’s been a perfect storm,” said Pierce County sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss.
By this time last year, there had been two police shootings in the county. In the same time period in 2020, there had been one.
In 2021, there were seven police shootings in Pierce County and one incident where a Tacoma police officer drove through a crowd and struck seven people. There were at least 12 local police shootings in 2020.
The statistics seem to suggest that public scrutiny and efforts made by lawmakers to reduce these types of incidents have not been as successful as hoped.
Nationwide, police shot and killed at least 1,055 people last year, according to The Washington Post. That’s up from 1,021 shootings in 2020 and 999 in 2019.
That the number of fatal police shootings last year is within 60 of the average suggests officers’ behavior has not shifted significantly since The Post began collecting data in 2015, said Andrew Wheeler, a private-sector criminologist and data scientist.
“I think the data is pretty consistent that there’ve been no major changes in policing, at least in terms of these officer-involved shooting deaths,” Wheeler told The Post.
Six of seven were fatal
Six of the seven police shootings that have happened in Pierce County this year were fatal. Medical examiners ruled one of those six a suicide.
Investigators say a man suspected of fatally shooting his girlfriend led deputies on a pursuit Jan. 9 then shot himself in the head when cornered near Buckley. Deputies heard the gunshot and returned fire, though none of their bullets hit him.
In another case, sheriff’s deputies shot at an armed child-rape suspect while trying to arrest him in Chehalis but did not hit him. The suspect was fatally shot later that day by Centralia police after he allegedly stabbed an officer. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is investigating both of those police shootings.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department has been involved in four of this year’s shootings. Tacoma police have shot two people, and Puyallup police shot one.
In at least four of the police shootings, investigators said the person shot was armed. Another allegedly struck a deputy with a van.
Details on the other two shootings have not been released, and investigators have not said why officers fired their weapons.
The Jan. 9 shooting in Buckley is the only police shooting case that has been closed, even though the involved deputies were not identified. The Sheriff’s Department will do an internal review to determine if the deputies violated any policies or procedures.
No major uptick in shootings in 2021
Although police shootings nationwide increased last year, there was no major uptick in Pierce County.
Local law enforcement officers shot seven people. Four of the cases were fatal, though medical examiners ruled one to be a suicide.
Three cases are still being investigated. They include a sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot an armed man in Graham, a trooper who fatally shot a suspect in Fife after the suspect allegedly led officers on a high speed chase in a stolen car and struck a patrol car, and a Lakewood sergeant who fatally shot a man after he allegedly opened fire on police.
Prosecutors are reviewing the other four police shootings to determine whether the involved officers or deputies were justified in firing their weapons.
In five of the police shootings from 2021, investigators said the people shot were armed with weapons. Two others involved suspects accused of either driving into deputies or driving into a patrol car.
Then there’s the case of Tacoma officer Khanh Phan, who responded to a street-racing call downtown Jan. 23 and drove through a crowd of people. Investigators found he struck seven pedestrians and ran over one man, who suffered a partially collapsed lung and leg pain.
Independent investigations now required
The way police shootings are investigated in Washington state changed two years ago.
That’s when the Law Enforcement and Community Safety Act, once known as Initiative 940, went into effect. The law requires independent investigations in incidents where police use of force results in death or serious injury.
Before, local police agencies would investigate each other when officers shot someone. That sometimes prompted public outcry from those who believe police cannot objectively investigate officers they work alongside or who they know might one day investigate them.
Now, the Pierce County Force Investigation Team takes over in such incidents, and three independent investigations are launched simultaneously. PCFIT conducts a criminal investigation, the Prosecutor’s Office independently monitors the investigation to ensure it is open, accurate, and appropriate, and the Medical Examiner’s Office determines the details of what caused the death and what factors contributed to it.
PCFIT has investigated 17 police use of force cases since the law went into effect Jan. 6, 2020.
Even newer legislation created the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations, which will eventually replace law enforcement investigations when police use deadly force.
Few details have been released about how the office will operate, but an 11-member advisory board was appointed in November.
Regional teams are expected to respond to the scenes of deadly police force within one hour to secure the scene and process evidence. All members will be taught the history of racism in policing, tribal sovereignty, implicit and explicit bias, intercultural competency, racial-equity lens, anti-racism and undoing institutional racism.
Investigators must be at least two years removed from professional ties with law enforcement and will be trained by the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission.
State officials have said they hope to have the office running by summer.
Police shootings so far in 2021:
Jan. 9: An unnamed Pierce County sheriff’s deputy fired at Justin Rebic, suspected of killing his wife earlier that day in Buckley, after a pursuit. Medical examiners later said Rebic killed himself.
Jan. 16: Pierce County sheriff’s deputy Thomas Dolan fatally shot Moses Portillo during a traffic stop in South Hill. Portillo was believed to be armed.
Jan. 27: Pierce County sheriff’s deputy Jordan Williams fatally shot Jerome Holman in Parkland after he tried to flee and allegedly struck a deputy with the door of a minivan.
Feb. 11: Puyallup officer Josh Schaub fatally shot Joseph Sanchez, who was allegedly trying to jump on cars in traffic. No reason has been given for the police shooting.
Feb. 15: An unidentified Tacoma police officer shot and injured Jeremiah Tusi, a murder suspect who allegedly led police on a pursuit through Lakewood and crashed into several vehicles.
Feb. 18: Pierce County sheriff’s detective Brendon Ossman fired at child rape suspect Murdock Phillips while trying to arrest him in Chehalis. Centralia later fatally shot Phillips after he stabbed an officer.
Feb. 24: An unidentified Tacoma police officer fatally shot an unidentified armed robbery suspect who refused to show his hands.
