Man arrested in Tacoma for double murder of Olalla couple sentenced to decades in prison
A 40-year-old man who killed a Kitsap County couple after he broke into their Olalla home last year was sentenced Wednesday to decades in prison for their murders.
Shaun D. Rose pleaded guilty in Kitsap County Superior Court to two counts of first-degree murder for killing Steven and Mina Shulz on Aug. 18, 2022, prosecutors said. According to court records, the couple was found dead from gunshot wounds in a garbage can on their property that afternoon.
Judge Jennifer Forbes ordered Rose to serve 66 years, 2 months in prison. The punishment, which included firearm sentencing enhancements, was toward the lower end of the standard sentencing range for defendants prosecuted in similar cases. The maximum sentence would have been life in prison.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Alexander Takos said the killings were essentially a burglary gone wrong. In a brief phone call, Takos said the burglary was interrupted, and instead of leaving, Rose decided to kill the couple.
The Shulz’s owned a brewery called East 2 West Brewing, according to the Kitsap Sun. Its strawberry ale won the “Favorite brew award” at the Gig Harbor Beer Festival. Takos said the couple’s daughter spoke at Rose’s sentencing hearing, and a victim advocate read a statement on behalf of Steven Shulz’s parents, who also attended.
A defense attorney for Rose, Tom Weaver, said during the hearing that the case was the product of the fentanyl epidemic, the Kitsap Sun reported. Judge Forbes reportedly said she found that drugs clearly contributed to the killings.
Tacoma Police Department arrested Rose four days after the burglary and shooting. Officers found him after the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office identified him as a suspect in the murders and announced he was thought to be hiding somewhere in Pierce County. Officers took him into custody at a gas station on South Tacoma Way.
The defendant also pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday for residential burglary and theft of a firearm from a separate incident, Takos said. The prosecutor said the sentence would be served concurrent with his murder convictions.
Rose has at least five prior convictions, largely for theft and burglary, according to a sentencing memo. Charging papers filed after his arrest stated he had been living in an RV on a property neighboring the Shulz’s before the murders.
