South Sound News

Man who shot himself as Tacoma police arrested him in bus stop death is out of hospital

TACOMA, Wash. — A man who shot himself in the head as Tacoma police moved to arrest him in connection with a fatal shooting near the Tacoma Dome has been released from the hospital.

Stephen Milner, 23, is charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the April 23 death of James Mureness.

He has been hospitalized since the shooting.

On Friday, Milner was booked into Pierce County Jail. An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled.

Charging papers give this account:

Milner’s family called 911 on April 23 to report that he’d fired several rounds into the ceiling.

By the time officers responded, Milner had taken a .22 pistol and fled.

Within a few hours, Mureness was found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest at a Pierce Transit bus stop in the 2900 block of East D Street.

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Another man suffered a head wound when a bullet grazed him.

The surviving victim told detectives he and Mureness were sitting at the bus stop when a man walked past them without saying anything. He then allegedly turned around and fired a shot.

Milner later told police he shot the men because one of them allegedly pulled a knife out of a jacket. He said he shot the other man out of fear he was also armed.

Several others reported Milner’s erratic behavior that evening.

He was accused of carrying a pistol and watching a group outside a bar on Eleventh Street, walking into a stranger’s house and requesting a glass of water and running from a group of friends he bumped into downtown.

Milner said he believed his friends wanted to rob him.

As police approached Milner to question him, Milner allegedly shot himself in the forehead.