Investigations of Tacoma weekend shootings lead to arrest of teen, recovery of 4 guns
Tacoma police arrested a 15-year-old boy Saturday and recovered four firearms after multiple 911 callers reported gunfire in the city’s Hilltop neighborhood.
It was the only arrest Tacoma Police Department made in a series of unconnected weekend shootings that included a man shot and critically injured downtown early Sunday and an Eastside home struck by gunfire in a drive-by. Police said the same residence was shot at about a week ago.
No one was seriously injured in the Saturday night shooting incident, which was reported at about 11:24 p.m. near the 800 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Police said nearby residents heard what sounded like a gunfight, and one 911 caller reported seeing three males with firearms on the second floor of a business.
Officers didn’t find signs of a gunfight, but police said the window of a man’s vehicle appeared to have been broken by gunfire while he was inside, and the glass fragments caused him some minor injuries. Police said nothing else on the vehicle was struck.
Officers also went to the building where men reportedly had been seen with firearms. Police spokesperson Wendy Haddow said officers cleared the building, and the 15-year-old was located there and taken into custody. Police also recovered three handguns and one AR-15 rifle, Haddow said.
The teenager was arrested on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, Haddow said.
The drive-by at the Eastside home occurred at about 9:20 p.m. in the 2200 block of East 65th Street. No one was injured. Dispatchers received multiple reports of shots fired in that area, and Haddow said police recovered at least 30 rifle and handgun shell casings of several different calibers.
On Sunday, police received reports of a third shooting at about 1:56 a.m. where a 22-year-old man was shot and found lying on the sidewalk in front of a bar in the 700 block of Pacific Avenue.
Haddow said witnesses reported hearing a single gunshot after a man got out of a vehicle near the bar and walked north toward a parking lot. She said the man returned to outside the bar, said he had been shot and collapsed. The man was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
Police asked anyone with additional information about the shootings to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 12:38 PM.
