Man arrested, charged in shootout at Tacoma gas station

A man accused of a shootout last month at a Central Tacoma gas station was arraigned Monday and ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

A bench warrant was issued May 9 in Pierce County Superior Court for Dean Michael O’Neal, 24, on three counts of first-degree assault and a count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested him early Saturday, and he was held in jail, pending the bail set by Court Commissioner Meagan Foley.

A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf at arraignment.

According to court documents:

Surveillance video from the gas station in the 1000 block of South Sprague Avenue starting about 11:50 p.m. April 4 showed a dark car pull into the parking lot.

A male driver and two female passengers got out of the car.

About two minutes later, a gray car arrived. O’Neal got out of the car, reached through the passenger-side window to grab something and walked toward the dark car.

That car’s occupants got back in and drove out of the parking lot, with one of the women flashing what appeared to be gang signs at O’Neal.

He pulled a handgun from his waist and fired as the car pulled away. An occupant of the dark car appeared to fire back as O’Neal took cover behind his car.

Customers at the gas station ducked to avoid bullets. A natural gas meter at a house across the street from the gas station was hit, starting a leak that was stopped by shutting off gas to the area.

O’Neal got back into his car and drove off after the other car, which went north on Sprague Avenue.

A tipster identified O’Neal to police. A detective went through his Facebook photos and found two of O’Neal from 16 hours before the shooting, flashing gang signs while wearing the same clothing he wore at the gas station.

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Man arrested, charged in shootout at Tacoma gas station."