Man arrested in January drive-by shooting that killed woman in Lakewood
A 39-year-old man was arrested Tuesday for the fatal drive-by shooting of a Lakewood woman in late January.
The man was booked into Pierce County Jail on outstanding warrants for the killing of 35-year-old Leslie Crossley on Jan. 22. Crossley was a passenger in a moving car when she was shot on Chicago Avenue Southwest. She succumbed to her injuries in the parking lot of a hotel in the 11700 block of Pacific Highway, a previous News Tribune story reported.
Lakewood detectives gathered information that led to the man as a person of interest. At about 5 a.m. on Tuesday, the Lakewood Special Response Team and the Major Crimes Unit arrested him at the 1400 block of 116th Street South.
The man was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, court records show. He is expected to enter a plea at his arraignment on Wednesday at Pierce County Superior Court.
Incident details
Just before 7 p.m., Lakewood police were dispatched to multiple reports of shots fired in the 5100 block of Chicago Avenue Southwest. At the same time, police received reports from a woman who said she was driving on Pacific Highway Southwest when the passenger in her car was shot, according to a Lakewood Police Department news release.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the passenger as Crossley.
The woman pulled over at a hotel parking lot on Pacific Highway Southwest. Officers and West Pierce Fire personnel went to the scene. Life-saving measures were performed, but Crossley succumbed to her injuries. Her cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. The female driver did not sustain any injuries.
Officers learned that the woman’s vehicle was associated with the shots-fired call on Chicago. Multiple shell casings were located on the roadway.
