Local

Woman injured after dozens of shots fired at Tacoma home

TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police are investigating after someone shot bullets into a Tacoma home more than 40 times late Saturday night.

“My partner looked at me and said ‘no, no, no. those are not fireworks. Those are gunshots,’” says Katrina A., who lives nearby.

The shooting happened in the 1700 block of S. 36 St. One of the bullets hit a 44-year-old woman inside the house. She was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

It’s not the first time the neighborhood has heard dozens of shots ring out.

“I’ve lived here for 15 years,” says Jackie Hartle. “Really it’s been a pretty quiet neighborhood up until probably the last six months. We’ve had the SWAT team out here twice in the last month. And then of course the other night was the shooting.”

Some neighbors tell KIRO 7 they believe the recent shootings are gang-related.

“What I don’t think is being addressed is there’s a serious gang problem here,” Jennifer tells KIRO 7. “It’s uneasy knowing that there’s gang members in our nice little neighborhood.”

Sgt. Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says there has been a rise in gang activity in the county. Some shootings have indicators of being gang-related.

“Why is a house being targeted with that many rounds? Where multiple people are shooting up a house? We only see that in drug activity and gang activity,” says Sgt. Moss, but adds, “It doesn’t mean that the person who got shot is a drug dealer or gang member. But that might be the reasoning why they picked that house, because they think they are.”

Tacoma police have not confirmed the motive behind Saturday’s shooting, or if it was related to a local gang.

“The Tacoma Police Department investigates all crimes of violence, regardless of the motivation behind the crime,” says Tacoma police officer Wendy Haddow.

In May, only a few blocks from Saturday’s shooting, was another incident that neighbors point to as gang activity. It involved a shootout between two cars that left bullet holes in nearby cars and homes and sent one man to the hospital. A police report shows one of the suspects in that incident was a member of the Hilltop Crips. Neighbors remain on edge.

“It’s getting to the point where even I’m a little more nervous being around here,” says Hartle about the recent crime. “I have a 13-year-old daughter and I’m getting nervous about letting her wander around.”