Man who shot 2 deputies opened fire ‘within seconds’ of SWAT team arrival, investigators say

The man who shot two Pierce County sheriff’s deputies, mortally wounding one of them, opened fire from a car as a SWAT team deployed to arrest him, according to a team investigating the shooting.

The incident occurred March 15 in the 18800 block of Pacific Avenue in Spanaway.

The SWAT team was dispatched to assist the South Sound Gang Task Force in serving an arrest warrant on a man charged with second-degree assault.

“As the SWAT team members exited [their vehicle], they observed the suspect seated in a vehicle parked in the yard. Within seconds the suspect opened fire on the deputies from inside his vehicle, striking two team members. Four SWAT team members returned fire,” according to a Pierce County Force Investigation Team news release issued Thursday.

Deputy Dominique “Dom” Calata and sheriff’s Sgt. Rich Scaniffe were hit. Calata, 35, died the next day. Scaniffe, 45, was seriously wounded. Calata was a 6-1/2 year veteran of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and assigned to the City of Edgewood.

Deputies moved their wounded colleagues to safety and extricated the gunman from his vehicle and provided medical aid to him, according to the news release. That man, Jeremy Dayton, 40, died at the scene. Dayton was a convicted felon facing possible life in prison under Washington’s three strikes law.

The names of the SWAT team members who fired at Dayton have not yet been released.

This story was originally published March 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.