Burglar shot dead while trying to run down deputy
LAKE TAPPS, Wash. - Pierce County deputies shot and killed a fleeing burglar early Saturday when the burglar jumped behind the wheel of a car and tried to run a deputy down.
A second burglary suspect who was riding in the car was injured, and a third fled the scene on foot, dropping a pistol as he escaped. He remains at large, but detectives have tentatively identified him.
The bizarre incident began around 2:35 a.m. when the three burglars broke into the garage of a home in the 1400 block of Tacoma Point Drive East, near Lake Tapps.
The homeowner heard strange noises in her garage and called 911. Deputies arrived about five minutes later, just as the burglars were about to leave the scene.
When the burglars saw the deputies, two of them jumped into a Honda and drove at high speed toward one of the deputies, trying to run him down.
"They tried to drive over the top of one of our deputies," said Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ed Troyer. "It's dark out here, and these guys were not going to stop."
Fearing for his life, the deputy and his partner opened fire on the speeding car, killing the driver and causing the car to plow through a fence, veer across a yard and crash into a tree on the edge of the woods.
Kerry Wilder, who lives next door, said, "We heard squealing tires and a rapid succession of shots - five or six shots."
Deputies ran to the Honda and found that the second burglar, in the passenger seat, was injured. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The deputies were not hurt, nor were the home's occupants.
The third burglar ran from the scene, dropping a handgun as he fled.
Wilder said the man ran briskly through his backyard, hopped down off the dock and took off running along the lakefront.
Officers surrounded the area and searched with helicopters and K-9 police dogs, but the suspect was not found and remains at large. No description was immediately available, but detectives have made a tentative identification.
Troyer said the Lake Tapps neighborhood of million-dollar homes has been plagued by a large number of late-night burglaries in recent weeks.
"Neighbors all around us have been hit," said Dale Karr, who lives in the area.
"We have had an issue up here of people burglarizing houses and occupied residences," Troyer said. "We don't know if these (burglars) are the same people."
And they may not be. Detectives say the burglary suspects knew the victim in this instance, and went in to crack a safe inside the garage.
In the meantime, neighbors are watching out for each other.
Says Karr: "People are trying to be more aware."
A second burglary suspect who was riding in the car was injured, and a third fled the scene on foot, dropping a pistol as he escaped. He remains at large, but detectives have tentatively identified him.
The bizarre incident began around 2:35 a.m. when the three burglars broke into the garage of a home in the 1400 block of Tacoma Point Drive East, near Lake Tapps.
The homeowner heard strange noises in her garage and called 911. Deputies arrived about five minutes later, just as the burglars were about to leave the scene.
When the burglars saw the deputies, two of them jumped into a Honda and drove at high speed toward one of the deputies, trying to run him down.
"They tried to drive over the top of one of our deputies," said Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesman Ed Troyer. "It's dark out here, and these guys were not going to stop."
Fearing for his life, the deputy and his partner opened fire on the speeding car, killing the driver and causing the car to plow through a fence, veer across a yard and crash into a tree on the edge of the woods.
Kerry Wilder, who lives next door, said, "We heard squealing tires and a rapid succession of shots - five or six shots."
Deputies ran to the Honda and found that the second burglar, in the passenger seat, was injured. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The deputies were not hurt, nor were the home's occupants.
The third burglar ran from the scene, dropping a handgun as he fled.
Wilder said the man ran briskly through his backyard, hopped down off the dock and took off running along the lakefront.
Officers surrounded the area and searched with helicopters and K-9 police dogs, but the suspect was not found and remains at large. No description was immediately available, but detectives have made a tentative identification.
Troyer said the Lake Tapps neighborhood of million-dollar homes has been plagued by a large number of late-night burglaries in recent weeks.
"Neighbors all around us have been hit," said Dale Karr, who lives in the area.
"We have had an issue up here of people burglarizing houses and occupied residences," Troyer said. "We don't know if these (burglars) are the same people."
And they may not be. Detectives say the burglary suspects knew the victim in this instance, and went in to crack a safe inside the garage.
In the meantime, neighbors are watching out for each other.
Says Karr: "People are trying to be more aware."