Tacoma assault suspect killed in shooting with police had run-ins with law before
The Tacoma assault suspect who was killed in a shooting with police last month has been identified as a 40-year-old man with a violent felony record, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Peter T. Collins died of a rifle wound to the chest on Aug. 28 after apparently exchanging gunfire with officers responding to a report that he assaulted his nephew in South Tacoma.
The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Collins’ death a homicide, meaning someone else fatally shot him.
The Pierce County Force Investigation Team, which leads independent probes into uses of deadly force by police, has not released the names of the Tacoma police officers involved in the shooting or confirmed whether they fired their weapons.
Lakewood police Lt. Chris Lawler, a PCFIT public information officer, told The News Tribune he had not heard back from investigators about their plans to release additional information.
Tacoma police referred requests for information to PCFIT. The department did not disclose the fatal shooting, which shut down about four city blocks, on the afternoon of Aug. 28. The mayor’s office announced the killing later that night.
PCFIT indicated that Collins fired at police but has not said whether a weapon was recovered. No officers were injured.
Collins pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in 2009 in connection to a 2007 domestic violence incident in Tacoma where he hit his seven-month pregnant girlfriend in the face repeatedly, leading to a permanent injury.
He was sentenced to just over nine years in prison. Prosecutors dropped a kidnapping charge as a result of his guilty plea.
The state Department of Corrections stopped supervising Collins in August 2018 after his parole term ended. He was reported as homeless in Renton at the time.
Other Pierce County women also filed for restraining orders against Collins alleging death threats and domestic violence assaults, court records show.
This story was originally published September 7, 2022 at 12:11 PM.
