South Sound couple found stabbed to death; son in custody

SUMNER, Wash. — A 29-year-old man has been booked into the Pierce County Jail tonight for investigation in a double homicide. The victims are his parents.

This happened on 171st Avenue Court East near Sumner.

A neighbor saw part of this crime happen and told investigators he saw the suspect stabbing his father in the street.

He tried to hold him at gunpoint for deputies, but the son ran into his parents’ house where his mother was.

Now both parents are dead, and their son is in custody.

People are still trying to come to terms with the tragedy that unfolded here in this neighborhood between Sumner and Bonney Lake.

“It’s really unexpected for this neighborhood,” said Autumn Rizzo. “We’re so quiet.”

Rizzo didn’t see what happened, but that quiet was shattered just before 9:30 a.m. when another neighbor witnessed a 29-year-old man stabbing his father outside the family’s home.

“Pretty intense stuff,” said Rizzo. “We didn’t expect this to happen at all.”

That neighbor called 911, got his gun and held the man at gunpoint, but the man broke off and ran into his parents’ house. Moments later, the neighbor heard the man’s mother scream.

Then the Pierce County sheriff’s deputies arrived.

“The suspect came up the side of the house,” said Sgt. Darren Moss, the sheriff’s spokesman. “They took him into custody with no issues. But then when they went and checked the house, they found the mom deceased inside.”

Moss described the scene the man left behind as “gruesome.”

“It’s outside the home,” he said. “It’s inside the home. It’s in the street.”

The last time this neighborhood saw flashing lights was during the Sumner Grade wildland fire that spread quickly and wreaked havoc last September.

“And we heard all the cops, and they were saying everybody needs to evacuate immediately,” said Rizzo as she reflected on an experience that is still vivid for her and her neighbors.

Now the unthinkable has happened just a few doors down.

“It sounded like they were have a pretty peaceful morning,” she said. “And he just showed up and started doing the unexpected.”

The suspect does have minor infractions around this area — in Orting, Pierce County and Fife.

And he had been booked into the Pierce County Jail in 2017 for fourth-degree assault.

But nothing in his past predicted what deputies said happened here

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