Man charged with shooting at Pierce sheriff’s sergeant to undergo mental evaluation
A man accused of shooting at two people, including a sergeant with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, during a high-speed pursuit will be held in custody until he receives examination from a forensic mental health professional.
On Monday, the Pierce County Superior Court ordered a competency examination for Juan Jose Carbajal before setting his bail. According to court documents, Carbajal’s defense attorney believes that because of a mental illness or defect, Cabajal might not understand the charges against him or be able to help in his own defense. He will be held without bail until the evaluation takes place.
Carbajal, 28, was arrested Tuesday, July 5, after allegedly committing a string of crimes the previous day. The charging documents state that he was driving south on East Meridian in a white Ford van near Graham when a Pierce County sheriff’s sergeant noticed the van moving faster than the other cars around it. The sergeant began following the van and noticed it was driving erratically, running red lights and signaling in the wrong directions.
As the van pulled into a dirt parking lot near a Safeway, the sergeant flashed emergency signals at it. Instead of stopping, Carbajal made a swift U-turn and drove directly at the sergeant’s SUV. As the two vehicles neared each other, the sergeant noticed Carbajal pointing a handgun at him, charging documents say. Carbajal passed the car on his right and shot a bullet through his driver’s side window as he passed it, missing the SUV completely.
Carbajal proceeded to drive his van out of the lot and east on 224 Street East. The sergeant pursued the van as Carbajal drove away at speeds between 60 and 100 miles per hour. At one point, after Carbajal turned onto 204th Street East, he shot at another vehicle that had pulled to the shoulder to avoid the erratically driven van. A bullet struck and shattered one of the other vehicle’s windows, but no one in that car was injured.
Eventually, after the sergeant lost track of the van, Carbajal veered off 204th Street East and 50 yards down a nearby ravine. When search-and-rescue and SWAT teams arrived at the ravine in response to a 911 call, they found the van and the gun but no driver, court records show.
The next morning, detectives were tipped off that Carbajal had returned to his trailer. When they went to confront him, Carbajal exited the trailer naked and with his hands up. According to the charging documents, he told the police, “I’m not going to escape, I was going to turn myself in ... I just wanted to get to safety, turn myself in safely, and honestly.”
Carbajal is being held in custody on five charges: two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, and one county of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle. His competency evaluation is scheduled for July 25.