Man charged in shooting that injured 2 outside Pierce County motel last week
A Kent man is accused of shooting and injuring two people outside a motel in Fife on Thursday.
Prosecutors have charged Xaeyante Chamar Owens, 27, with two counts of first-degree assault.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Owens’ behalf during his arraignment Monday afternoon. Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set bail at $10,000, court records show.
Fife officers were dispatched at 1:17 a.m. to a Motel 6 in the 5200 block of 20th Street East for a shooting. The person who reported the incident told dispatch her boyfriend was involved and a hotel clerk. A Shot Spotter device also detected eight gunshots in the area, according to charging documents.
Officers learned two males who wore hoodies ran from the scene along the west side of the motel. Several shell casings were found in the area, documents show.
Through security footage, it appeared there was an altercation between several people in a parking lot where the shell casings were found, documents show. A person fired a gunshot at two people, both males, who then ran off and drove away in a white vehicle. Documents say Tacoma police officers later found the two injured inside a vehicle on Puyallup Avenue.
They were taken to a hospital and underwent emergency surgery, documents show. Both were in stable condition Monday, according to a Fife police spokesperson.
Documents show a witness told police the alleged shooter and an associate ran through the motel after the shooting and entered Room 252. The room was registered to Owens and another male.
Officers later tracked the alleged shooter and an associate who ran to Room 203, where they remained. Police secured the room and instructed the people inside to exit. Owens was one of the two people to exit first. Documents show that Owens’ appearance matched the alleged shooter in the surveillance footage.
Five people, including Owens, were detained. He was the only person to be arrested, according to a News Tribune report.
Owens allegedly told officers he had a handgun in his pocket, which officers suspected is the same caliber as the shell casings found in the parking lot, documents show.
Police took Owens to the Fife Police Department for an interview, documents show. Owens allegedly admitted to shooting both victims, claiming it was self-defense. He also allegedly acknowledged that neither victim was armed or threatened him, according to charging documents.
Records show Owens has been arrested in Louisiana and Washington but has not been convicted.
