A man was paralyzed in a Tacoma drive-by shooting. The gunman has now been sentenced
A 21-year-old man who shot a local business owner during a road-rage incident, permanently paralyzing him, has been sentenced to almost 11 years in prison.
Mason Zavier Taylor, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 10.75 years in prison on June 30, 2023, court documents said.
The shooting occurred on June 23, 2022, on Norpoint Way in Tacoma.
Jalaa Barbour, 46, was hauling beer and wine in his commercial truck to Mediterranean Gyro Grill, his restaurant in Federal Way, after a catering event. Barbour saw a green Ford SUV pull up alongside him, court documents said. The driver flipped him off. Barbour was reportedly driving slowly because of his truck’s load.
He yelled back at the passengers inside the SUV, leading to an on-the-road argument between the two cars, court documents said.
At some point, Barbour got into the left turn lane for 29th Street Northeast. He then felt “something” and thought he’d been rear-ended, records show.
Suddenly, Barbour couldn’t feel or move his legs.
Taylor shot at Barbour’s van twice with a 9 mm pistol, sped off and stuffed the gun into the glove compartment, court documents state. One of the shots flew through the back door and lodged in Barbour’s back, paralyzing him for life.
“[This spinal injury] has caused me unendurable nerve pain that I have to endure daily,” Barbour said in a court letter in June 2023. “My poor wife must take care of me, our daughters and our restaurant ... for the work I used to do.”
Barbour can no longer feel anything from the chest down; the injury has severely impacted his day-to-day life.
“My youngest daughter, who is very close to me, keeps on asking me every day, ‘How long are you going to be in that chair and when are you going to get up and play with me?’” Barbour said.
Detectives recovered security camera footage and spoke to witnesses, court documents said. Six days after the shooting, detectives searched Taylor’s Federal Way apartment and SUV. They interviewed him and the man in the passenger’s seat.
Taylor’s side of the story matched much of Barbour’s, but the defendant did not mention pulling the trigger, according to court records. Taylor showed police the gun in his glove box. The same gun was later confirmed as the one used to shoot Barbour, the records show.
Taylor claimed that at some point in their argument, Barbour pulled a gun, court documents said. The other passengers, whose identities were not released, said Barbour only alluded to a weapon, saying, “He had something for them.”
A restitution hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12, where reimbursements will be set for the money Barbour’s lost relating to his life-altering injury.
“The sad truth is that at the end of his sentence, the defendant will still be able to walk on his feet, but I won’t,” Barbour said.
This story was originally published August 29, 2023 at 10:50 AM.
