Shootout at troubled South Sound house

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A shootout in the South Sound left a home punctured by bullet holes. The shooting happened in the 7600 block of 211th Street East in Spanaway Saturday night.

No one was injured, including a child who was in the house. But neighbors say the house has been a trouble spot for years.

The shooting in this Spanaway neighborhood happened so early on Saturday night that most people who live here were still awake. They said they did not have to wonder where the bullets were coming from.

The house that seemed to be covered in bullet hole markers stood out on this quiet, dead-end street.

“I heard roughly eight shots, said neighbor Jalon Bakko, “Jumped up, opened the door.”

Neighbor Bakko was at home with his family when the gunfire erupted.

“Heard the neighbor screaming, ‘Is the baby okay?’” he said. “We presumed to call the cops and let them handle the situation.”

The shooting began at about 8:30 Saturday night. According to neighbors, the bullets came from a silver SUV that pulled up to the house. Someone inside returned fire.

In the light of this Sunday, KIRO 7 tried talking to the people who were there during the shootout.

“A lot of people in the neighborhood are upset about this,” our crew said to a couple standing outside the house.

“Upset about what?” the woman shouted. “Our house got shot up?”

“They’re upset about your house and the fact that a bullet went across the street, going in that direction, so somebody in the house was firing it,” our crew responded.

At that point, they asked KIRO 7 to leave.

“It went through, towards the house,” said Deborah Olney. She thinks the neighbor’s bullet came through her fence, narrowly missing a propane tank.

“And it went through here,” she said, pointing to a metal rack, “and it hit the house back there.”

It was frightening, she says.

“They could have killed me, my husband,” she said. “They could have blown up our house. They could have killed our animals. I’m frustrated. We’ve had a lot of problems in the neighborhood with that house.”

She says the house is overseen by the Pierce County Housing Authority.

And, says Det. Ed Troyer, it is known to Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies.

“This house has been on our radar,” said Troyer. “We’re going to keep looking at it, going there until we figure out a way to fix the problem.”

KIRO 7 tried to reach Pierce County Housing Authority officials to find out what relationship, if any, they have with the house.

© 2020 Cox Media Group