Man charged in shooting death of mother of 5. Did he stage it to look like self-defense?
A Tacoma man is accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend three times after allegedly finding her hiding in his closet over the weekend.
Nathan Mapp told police he fired into the closet after seeing someone with a gun inside, but Pierce County prosecutors said in court Wednesday they believe Mapp staged the scene to look like the shooting was self-defense.
Mapp, 42, was arrested Jan. 28 for the killing of 39-year-old Tamrah Dickman. Dickman was shot multiple times at a home in the 1700 block of East 61st Street in Tacoma. When police officers arrived, Mapp was taken into custody without incident, charging documents show.
Pierce County prosecutors charged Mapp with second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Pleas of not guilty was entered on Mapp’s behalf at his arraignment in Pierce County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon.
Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille heard from Dickman’s brother, Charles Harlem Humphrey Jr., before setting bail. Humphrey said Mapp has shown no remorse and offered no apologies since her sister’s death.
“This wasn’t just a person — this was a mother of five who took care of her kids every day,” Humphrey said.
Prosecutors requested $1 million bail, noting Mapp has a criminal history with prior felony convictions. They also said Dickman’s and Mapp’s residences are within walking distance of each other. Dickman has three children who are potential witnesses, and prosecutors said they were concerned for their safety.
McInvaille set Mapp’s bail at $1 million. He is being held at Pierce County Jail. McInvaille restricted The News Tribune from photographing Mapp’s face in open court. The commissioner has frequently made that ruling of late, which is a departure from decades of court practice.
Humphrey told The News Tribune outside court that Dickman was a pillar of their family. Relatives intend to support her children and figure out how the rest of their lives will look like without their mother, Humphrey said.
“I know that everybody is going to do what they can for [my sister],” Humphrey said.
A GoFundMe was set up to support Dickman’s children and ease funeral costs. The fundraiser has raised about $6,452.
Charging information
According to charging papers, Mapp called 911 at about 1:43 a.m. on Jan. 28 to report that he’d shot his ex-girlfriend, later identified as Dickman. He also told dispatchers that he did not touch anything so as not to “mess up the investigation,” charging documents show.
When police arrived and approached the front door, Mapp was standing nearby with his hands raised. He was detained without incident and told police no one else was in his home. When asked about the firearm’s location, Mapp said it was in the kitchen. Police noted he had $1,380 cash on him, prosecutors wrote
Dickman was discovered lying on the floor on top of the stairs. She was not moving, and there was a red plastic “pepper blaster” several inches from her outstretched hand. Police said the upstairs smelled heavily of pepper spray, which made it difficult to breathe. Dickman also had a firearm in her jeans, prosecutors wrote.
Dickman was pronounced deceased at the scene at 1:53 a.m. There were three bullet holes in the door and an additional hole in the closet door’s frame.
Mapp told police varying accounts of what had happened, including that he and Dickman had gone together to the Emerald Queen Casino at about 8 p.m. They got into a argument because she accused him of cheating, and they left separately. Dickman drove herself home, and a friend gave Mapp a ride, prosecutors wrote.
When he got home later that evening, he discovered a broken window and about $4,000 in cash missing from the bedroom, prosecutors wrote. He went to Dickman’s home to confront her, they got into an argument and he left, charging papers show.
Later that night, he said, he walked by a closet, saw a gun protruding from the opening and then was pepper sprayed. He said he fired his own gun into the closet three times. Mapp said he did not know who was in the closet, but, when he opened the door, Dickman fell out, court records show. Investigators noted that during their interview with Mapp he did not smell of being pepper-sprayed, court record show.
Mapp gave subsequent interviews in which the details of the night changed, prosecutors wrote in charging documents, including one account in which Mapp went to two bars after arguing with Dickman.
A relative of Dickman’s saw Mapp at the second bar, court records show. He told the relative that he was in the worst relationship of his life. He claimed that Dickman stole from him, and the relative later overheard him arguing with someone on the phone, prosecutors wrote.
Mapp later told investigators he and Dickman had dated for four months and had “broken up” every weekend. He said every time they broke up, Dickman would steal from him but later give the items back.
Police interviewed three of Dickman’s sons the night she died. They told investigators their mother disappeared as they walked to a nearby convenience store. They called her, and she said Mapp had her wallet and she was going to retrieve it, court records show.
One of the sons went to Mapp’s home, court records show. Mapp told police he saw Dickman’s son walking up to the house, asking where his mom was. Mapp said he gave the son a ride home, court records show. Mapp told police when he returned home, he discovered drawers opened and clothes pulled out. That’s when he grabbed his gun, he said.
Detectives later found Dickman’s driver’s license on the front passenger seat of Mapp’s car.
It is not known how Dickman entered Mapp’s home. Detectives believe that it is “very improbable” she entered through the broken window. Mapp told detectives he changed the code on his front entry door and that the garage was locked from the inside, prosecutors wrote.
Mapp told investigators at one point that he “did not want to make (Dickman’s death) look like it was on purpose, it was an angry night, and it wasn’t on purpose,” charging papers show.
