Shoplifter fired gunshots when confronted outside Tacoma convenience store, police say
A shoplifting at a 24-hour convenience store in Tacoma turned violent early Tuesday when the thief was confronted by a clerk and fired off gunshots, according to police.
Tacoma Police Department officers responded just before 3:30 a.m. to the 200 block of North I Street, in the city’s North End neighborhood, according to a tweet from the department. Police received reports of a shoplifter firing gunshots while fleeing.
Police had a description of the suspect, and an officer saw a man matching that description, police spokesperson Wendy Haddow said. After a short foot pursuit, a 20-year-old man was detained and booked into Pierce County Jail for investigation of first-degree robbery and first-degree assault.
Haddow said the gunshots were fired in the parking lot of the business when a store clerk went to tell a man he needed to pay for the items he’d taken. No one was injured by the gunfire. Haddow said police recovered several shell casings.
Police recovered a semi-automatic handgun and a bag of unidentified pills during the arrest.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 9:08 AM.
