Pierce County authorities are investigating after a deadly officer-involved shooting in Puyallup last Friday night. Officers were dispatched to a welfare check near North Meridian and Valley Avenue at around 10:50 p.m. after receiving multiple reports of a person walking in traffic. The person was also reportedly jumping on vehicles and attempted to get into a vehicle with the driver still inside. Shortly after officers made contact with the person, shots were fired by an officer, according to PPD. The person was pronounced dead at the scene. It is unclear what prompted the officer to fire his weapon. As this was an officer-involved shooting, the Pierce County Force Investigation Team will now be investigating this incident. Police have not yet released the name of the person involved or the officer involved in the shooting.
A man is dead after shots were fired during a traffic stop in Pullyaup. Jan 17, at 10 p.m. in the 13400 block of Canyon Road East. Investigators said a deputy responded to a traffic stop and moments later, the deputy told dispatch that a person in the car had a gun. According News source Dan Griffin, the deputy radioed someone had a gun in their lap. According to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team, the deputy “advised shots had been fired.”
Medics were called to the scene and life-saving measures were started on the passenger but he died at the scene.
The driver and another passenger in the car were not injured. Investigators said the deputy was not injured. The deputy involved was placed on administrative leave in accordance with the department policies. The investigation remains ongoing.
A teenager convicted of killing the 79-year-old owner of a popular Puyallup corner store during a robbery, then fatally shooting his alleged accomplice on a grassy Commencement Bay beach, faced sentencing Friday in Pierce County Superior Court. Robbrie Thompson, 16 at the time of the armed robbery and 19 now, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, below the standard sentencing range. During the hearing, Judge James Orlando said the sentence was below the standard range to avoid handing a juvenile offender what would essentially be a life sentence. The charges stemmed from the April 27, 2019 armed robbery at the Handy Corner Store where Soon Ja Nam, who owned and operated it with her husband, was killed, and from the death of 16-year-old Franklin Thuo, who allegedly helped rob the store.
Thuo was found dead on the shore of Chinook Marina two days later with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Prosecutors said Thompson killed Thuo over a fear that he would talk to authorities about Nam’s death.
At the Kohl’s store at 16918 Meridian East, at about 10:20 p.m. Jan 29, Wednesday after receiving several reports of shots fired a teen was found down in the parking lot and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as 16-year-old Franklin Thananga from Puyallup. The suspect had already fled when the first deputies arrived. Several witnesses reported seeing a man in a black shirt and black pants running from the shooting.
