Did a ‘miscommunication’ lead to the fatal shooting of a woman on a Tacoma street?
A Tacoma shooting that killed one woman and seriously injured her boyfriend was a “miscommunication” between the people who shot them, court records say.
The victim was identified Wednesday as Alin Valencia-Miranda, 22. Her 23-year-old boyfriend was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries but has since been upgraded to serious condition.
Pierce County prosecutors have charged Trevor Ross Bullplume, 23, with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault for the March 13 shooting in the 3800 block of East Howe Street. He pleaded not guilty and is being held on $750,000 bail.
His 16-year-old brother was arrested Monday and booked into Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center. Prosecutors said they do not plan to charge him right now and he will be released soon. The investigation is ongoing.
The male victim called 911 about 4:50 a.m. March 13 and told dispatchers his girlfriend had been shot. Officers responded but were unable to find the victims. They traced his cell phone to East Howe Street, where he was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Valencia-Miranda was found in the driver’s seat of a Lexus, also with a gunshot wound to the chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two bullet holes were found in the Lexus’ windshield, police said.
Several shell casings were found in the street and an assault rifle was found hidden near the Lexus between two garbage cans. The male victim later told detectives the assault rifle was his and he hid it after the shooting.
Charging papers give this account of the homicide:
The victims were out with two friends on the night of the shooting.
They dined at a Mexican restaurant, went to Roger’s Park where Valencia-Miranda’s boyfriend shot off a single round of “celebratory gunfire” then they visited a roadside memorial on East Roosevelt Avenue.
At both the park and the roadside memorial, they chatted with Bullplume, his brother and another man. Surveillance footage shows no indication of fighting between the groups.
Bullplume told detectives the male shooting victim offered him cocaine at the roadside memorial, and they decided to go elsewhere to do drugs since they were aware of surveillance cameras in the area.
On East Howe Street, Bullplume stopped his Toyota Scion and turned off the headlights. The victims did the same in their Lexus.
The male victim was intoxicated and started to fall asleep until Valencia-Miranda yelled, “Babe, babe!” and then gunshots rang out, records say.
The vehicles were stopped for 20 to 30 seconds before “muzzle flashes can be seen” in surveillance footage, prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
The Scion, which was later linked to Bullplume, sped away and got into a collision near Tacoma Avenue South and Wright Avenue. It had to be towed from the scene.
Bullplume called police the next day and told them his Scion, keys and cell phone had been stolen March 12.
After his arrest, he told police he’d stopped his Scion to do cocaine with the victims and told one of his passengers to get out. The passenger than allegedly opened fire on the victims.
Bullplume “believed it was a miscommunication between him and the passenger,” prosecutors wrote in the affidavit.
