After teen’s alcohol deal soured in Tacoma, he put bullet in buyer’s door, charges say
A man and a teenager have been charged with two drive-by shootings in Tacoma after the teen allegedly tried to rob a person who planned to buy liquor from him, according to charging documents.
After the alcohol deal soured, the man allegedly shot at the buyer in a car while driving on a South Tacoma street, and the teenager put a bullet in the front door of the person’s house minutes later.
A 27-year-old man was charged Tuesday in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree assault, two counts of drive-by shooting and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The teenager, a 16-year-old boy, was charged with drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm, along with first-degree attempted robbery.
Both defendants entered pleas of not guilty at arraignment Tuesday afternoon. The man was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail. The teenager was held at Remann Hall on a secure detention order, which essentially means he’s held without bail, according to a Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson.
The man has one prior felony conviction in Pierce County for unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a firearm. At the time of the shootings, the 16-year-old was under probation supervision for charges of harassment, fourth-degree assault and third-degree theft, records state.
The shootings occurred the afternoon of March 2 in a residential area of South Tacoma. According to charging documents, a person who has known the 16-year-old for several years planned to meet him at Oak Tree Park on South 74th Street to buy four bottles of expensive liquor at a discounted price of $60, records state. When they met, the teenager was in the passenger seat of an orange car occupied by his girlfriend and the man.
In interviews with Tacoma Police Department detectives, the buyer said the 16-year-old asked him to send $60 over CashApp, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. It’s unclear how old the buyer is. The buyer asked where the bottles were, and the teenager then allegedly pointed a revolver at him and again told him to give him the money. The buyer said he pretended to send it, went back to his car and drove away.
As the buyer drove east on 74th Street, he noticed the orange car was chasing him, records state. The street is a multi-lane road, and the car pulled alongside the buyer’s passenger window in the lane next to him. According to the probable cause document, that’s when he saw a gunshot fired from the other vehicle’s driver-side window, striking one of his car doors.
The shooter’s car then slowed and made a U-turn, records state.
Shortly after, Tacoma police responded at about 12:31 p.m. to a drive-by shooting at the buyer’s residence in the 6800 block of South Clement Avenue. The buyer wasn’t home when the shooting occurred. Officers contacted the homeowner, a 75-year-old man who reported he saw the occupants of an older, orange Chevrolet shoot at his house. Through victim and witness interviews, officers learned that as the car passed the home, the front seat passenger pointed a handgun from an open window and fired a single shot.
The gunshot penetrated the front door and struck a picture frame inside, records state. According to the probable cause document, a person was watching TV in a bedroom about three feet from where the bullet hit the door.
Minutes after the drive-by was reported, another officer saw an orange Chevrolet Cavalier and stopped it about six blocks from the shooting. Records state the man was driving, the 16-year-old was in the passenger’s seat and the teen’s girlfriend was in the backseat.
The man explained the alcohol deal to police and allegedly admitted to shooting at the buyer’s car after the 16-year-old tried to rob him. Records state the man said the teenager ordered him to follow the buyer and “made” him shoot at him.
The man was arrested, but the 16-year-old and his girlfriend were released to their parents. According to the probable cause document, that was because officers didn’t obtain the victim’s statements until later, and officers couldn’t ask to interview the teen or his girlfriend without lawyers because of their age. The next day, the man was released from Pierce County Jail because prosecutors opted not to file charges and requested further investigation.
Police obtained a search warrant for the man’s car, and officers recovered a revolver from the back seat with two spent shell casings in it and four live rounds, records state.
On Tuesday, Tacoma police announced that the man had been arrested again Monday in connection to the drive-by shootings, and police said the 16-year-old was arrested by Olympia Police Department.
