Woman arrested, charged in drive-by shooting outside Tacoma apartment that injured 4
A 35-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in Pierce County court for her alleged role in a drive-by shooting that injured four people at a Tacoma apartment complex.
According to charging documents, the shooting stemmed from arguments between the defendant and a neighbor over parenting issues.
Ronnay Chaneece Scott was charged Monday in Superior Court with drive-by shooting and four counts of first-degree assault.
The shooting occurred the night of July 3 near the 3300 block of South Asotin Street. According to charging documents, three to five people arrived at the apartment complex in a vehicle and, from a grassy embankment about 20 feet away, shot toward a unit where four people were standing outside.
Two men and two women were struck by gunfire and wounded. Court records say one of the women was pregnant and was shot in her hip and left thigh. A second victim was shot through the thigh, another in the abdomen and a fourth person was shot in a toe.
A plea of not guilty was entered on the defendant’s behalf at arraignment Monday afternoon. Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Adam Faber said prosecutors asked that Scott be jailed in lieu of $350,000 bail. Superior Court Commissioner Philip Thornton set bail at $75,000.
Scott does not have a violent criminal history in Pierce County. She was previously convicted of first-degree theft in 2020.
It’s unclear whether police suspect Scott to have fired gunshots during the incident. A representative for Tacoma Police Department did not respond to questions sent to the department Tuesday.
One witness told detectives they saw Scott driving the suspect vehicle back into the apartment complex through an alley shortly before the shooting. Other witnesses identified Scott’s sister as another person in the car.
Charging documents say that the shooting followed two days of arguing over “parenting issues” between Scott and one of her neighbors. The arguing led to a fight between the women on July 3 where Scott allegedly pulled three braids out of her neighbor’s scalp, and the victim’s mother had to break up the fight.
The neighbor later told police that Scott made a “vague threat” to drop off her two children and return to the apartment complex “with ‘her family and homeboys,’” records state.
Prosecutors wrote in the probable cause document that no one in the courtyard of the apartment complex could provide a definitive description of the shooters. Several witnesses said the shooters were wearing ski masks, making it difficult to discern whether they were men or women. One shooter reportedly used a rifle.
Police used a drone, SWAT and a police dog to try to locate the shooting suspects, but the efforts were unsuccessful.
Four days after the shooting, law enforcement located Scott standing near her Nissan Murano, the car she was reportedly seen driving away from the apartment complex with her children prior to the shooting. According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, Scott did not comply with commands to get on the ground, and police had to physically control her to take her into custody.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
