Man accused in deadly Tacoma shootout had beef with victim over ‘old case,’ charges say
Booze, handguns, a can of mace and unresolved tensions between old co-defendants collided with deadly effect Sunday in the backyard of an Eastside Tacoma home.
Two brothers have been arrested and charged in relation to the shootout, which killed a 38-year-old man who lived there and injured four people, including both suspects and the deceased man’s wife. According to charging documents, the victim’s 13-year-old son watched from inside the house while his father was gunned down, then helped his other brothers hide until police arrived.
Kacy Estes, 32, and Jacy Estes, 34, were charged Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The younger brother was out of prison on community custody when the shooting occurred, according to court records. Kacy Estes was released in January, about 12 years after he was sentenced for fatally shooting a 29-year-old mother at a Salishan apartment in 2009. Archive stories from The News Tribune show the woman was killed just a mile from Sunday’s shootout.
The man killed in Sunday’s shooting has yet to be publicly identified. Charging documents refer to him as A.L. According to the documents, the accused brothers showed up at the victim’s home in the 900 block of East 52nd Street armed and intoxicated.
Witnesses told Tacoma Police Department detectives that an argument broke out between Kacy Estes and A.L. One reported that the dispute stemmed from “an old case” they were both involved in. The Estes brothers reportedly believed A.L. had once given information to authorities, and that the man hadn’t served as much time in prison as he should have.
According to The News Tribune’s archive, two other people were sentenced in the 2009 fatal shooting that landed Kacy Estes behind bars until this year. The other people were ordered to serve five years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance. One of the men’s initials was A.L.
At arraignment Wednesday afternoon, not guilty pleas were entered on Kacy Estes’ behalf, and Court Commissioner Craig Adams ordered him jailed in lieu of $3 million. Jacy Estes was recovering from his injuries at a local hospital. The older brother also has a criminal history in Pierce County. According to charging documents, he was convicted in 2008 of second-degree assault.
It’s unclear who fired the shots that struck the accused brothers during the incident, or whether police are investigating that aspect of the incident. Efforts to reach a Tacoma police representative were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Shooting in Eastside home’s backyard
Police were dispatched about 10:35 p.m. for a report of multiple people shot at a residence, with one victim reportedly driven to East 48th Street and Portland Avenue.
Police responded to both locations. Dispatchers told officers that a 911 caller reported that the shooter was possibly still at the home on East 52nd Street. According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, when officers approached the residence, Jacy Estes stumbled into the street and collapsed in front of them. He had blood on his shirt and appeared injured.
Estes didn’t answer questions from police about who the shooter was, according to the probable cause document. While police were providing aid to him, two women came out of the home, and one identified him as the shooter. Police detained Estes and transported him to a hospital.
Meanwhile, other patrol officers found A.L. dead in the backyard. According to the probable cause document, he had gunshot wounds to his head, face, neck and stomach. Police also found multiple shell casings in the backyard and two firearms.
Police began interviewing witnesses. Two people reported that Kacy and Jacy Estes had come to the home around 7:30 p.m. The brothers were reportedly looking for a man they called “pony boy,” who they wanted to take out to drink. They left after being told he wasn’t there.
The brothers returned about three hours later, this time entering the residence without knocking, surveillance video showed, according to the probable cause document. Witnesses reported that the men went to the backyard, where three people were hanging out.
An argument, then volleys of gunfire
One woman told police Jacy Estes came into the yard holding a large silver handgun with an extended magazine. The witness said Kacy Estes also appeared to have a gun, and that both men were intoxicated.
An argument broke out between Kacy Estes and A.L., according to the probable cause document. A woman who told police she’d dated Jacy Estes more than 12 years ago said the issue stemmed from “an old case they were all involved in.” She said Kacy Estes had just gotten out of prison, and that he and his brother thought A.L. was a “snitch” because he didn’t do as much time in prison as he should have.
“It ‘didn’t have to be like this,’” the witness recalled A.L. telling the men. She said Kacy Estes got in the victim’s face, telling him “it’s his time.”
The witness told police she retrieved a large can of mace from inside the home and returned to the backyard, telling Jacy Estes he and his brother needed to leave. She sprayed Jacy Estes with the mace, and gunfire rang out.
A surveillance camera on the back door captured portions of the shooting. One video allegedly showed A.L. running while Jacy Estes fired four gunshots at him, bringing the man to the ground. Jacy Estes’ face appeared to be covered in pepper spray. A gunshot from out of camera view strikes him in the upper back, and he falls. Another nine gunshots ring out, and A.L. can be heard screaming, “Stop.”
Another video from the backyard captured the victim’s final moments. According to the probable cause document, A.L. was screaming for his wife while Kacy Estes, who was shot in the calf, tries unsuccessfully to bring his brother to his feet.
“Kacy then turns around, walks up to A.L. who is lying defenseless on the ground screaming for his wife, and fires three shots into A.L.’s body and head from just feet away,” records state.
