According to the Tacoma Police Department, officers received calls about an assault involving an uncle and his nephew in the 6700 block of South Monroe Street around 12:30 p.m.
“All I kept hearing is just gunshots, gunshots, gunshots. There was so many it sounded like at least 100, there was so many, so all of us were on our floor trying to stay safe, and then all of a sudden it went from the alley all the way to the front of my house,” said Kimberly Lott.
Lott was able to capture the moment when police approached the suspect.
“I literally just watched out of my back window that the police were walking in front of a police car and then all of a sudden ran to him and started getting him down, getting him down, getting him down, and then I seen them perform CPR three or four times.”
“How many officers did you see walking?”
“Oh my god, about 20,” said Lott.
In the video you can hear an officer saying, “Tacoma Police Department, you are under arrest, show us your hands.”
The shooting caught the attention of Victoria Woodards, the mayor of Tacoma. She confirmed the suspect was declared dead at the scene, and said no officers were injured.
Lott said the suspect died on Madison Street just behind her house. She showed KIRO 7 blood on the ground where the body had fallen.
Woodards released a statement: “It is vital that we address the root cause of all acts of violence as we work to improve our intervention efforts and response to violent incidents. To this end, the City Council and I will continue to support our domestic violence prevention and intervention programs to ensure we are addressing the issues comprehensively.”
Details regarding this incident are still unfolding and very little information has been shared. We know multiple agencies were on the scene till late Sunday night.
“It was blocked off everywhere, we couldn’t even get into our homes. I believe some of these cars that are over here are probably people still who couldn’t get into their homes it was blocked off one, two, three blocks this way,” said one neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous.
The Pierce County Force Investigation Team is leading this investigation because under state law, anytime there is deadly force involving a police officer, an independent agency needs to investigate.
KIRO7 reached out to PCFIT and on Monday, investigators said Tacoma police were called to South Monroe Street for a report of an assault during Sunday afternoon.
The caller told dispatchers that a relative did not use a weapon in the assault but had several firearms and might try to “shoot police,” according to a release for PCFIT.
When police arrived, they contacted the assault victim and tried talking with the suspect but he would not cooperate.
At 2:57 p.m., police called out “shots fired ... he’s actively shooting at us.”
After several minutes, an officer stated the suspect was “firing on Madison ... he keeps firing and he reloaded,” investigators said in the release.
Investigators said that at 3:08 p.m., officers approached the suspect with medics and found him dead.
The identity of the man has not been released yet.
The three officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave, as is customary for this type of investigation.
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