Tacoma police link shooting to dispute over woman. One charged with attempted murder
A 17-year-old has been charged in connection to a New Year’s Day shooting in Tacoma that left a woman shot three times in the chest, according to court documents.
Amiyah Lashell-Marie Braxton faces charges of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, according to court documents. A Pierce County Superior Court judge ordered her held in the Remann Hall Pierce County Juvenile Detention Center on Tuesday in lieu of $700,000 bail.
Investigators linked the Eastside shooting to an ongoing dispute involving Braxton, the 19-year-old victim and Braxton’s girlfriend, who previously dated the victim, according to court documents. The shooting victim was listed in critical but stable condition earlier this week.
Charging papers provide the following account:
Officers were dispatched to a home on the 5400 block of Mcdacer Avenue at about 3:26 p.m. on Sunday for a report of a shooting. A 911 caller on the way to the hospital with the victim in a private vehicle told dispatchers that Braxton was still at the scene.
As officers were arriving, they spotted an SUV driving away with Braxton in the front passenger seat and conducted a felony traffic stop. Braxton was compliant and told police she was going to the corner store.
The driver of the car, the mother of Braxton’s girlfriend, told police Braxton had a gun on her, then indicated she might have been reaching underneath her seat when officers didn’t locate a weapon. Police seized the car pending a search warrant.
The mother said she was in the kitchen with her daughter when the shooting occurred and didn’t hear gunshots. She said Braxton was in her daughter’s room in a detached garage and came inside saying, “I have to go.” Braxton reported the victim was at the house and she was “crazy.”
The mother said she offered to drive Braxton home and saw the victim running from the property but didn’t know she was injured. She told police the victim had stalked her daughter and Braxton, as well as damaged her property on one occasion.
At the hospital, the victim was still conscious and told officers Braxton shot her.
The two people who drove the victim to the hospital told officers they were at the shooting scene to pick up the victim. Parked about a block away, they said they heard a gunshot and saw the victim come out of a fenced area. As they were leaving, they reported seeing two younger women outside the house, one of whom matched the description of Braxton.
One of the witnesses, the victim’s cousin, reported they knew the victim and Braxton “had a beef with each other.”
Braxton’s girlfriend told police the victim had been threatening her for months and she tried to get a protection order against her. She also alleged the victim abused her while they were dating.
Court records show the girlfriend first filed for a domestic violence protection order against the victim on Wednesday, citing past statements threatening harm and stalking behavior.
Prior to the shooting, she alleged in the protection-order filing that the gunshot victim sneaked into her room, pulled a knife on Braxton, asked if she was ready to die and said she’d see Braxton soon as she left.
Braxton has felony convictions that prohibited her from possessing a firearm, including a second-degree robbery conviction from April 2022, according to charging documents.
