Child, 7, fires BB gun at windows of Pierce County elementary school, deputies say
Brookdale Elementary School in Parkland was placed on lockdown Thursday morning after a child shot BBs gun through the windows.
Deputies were dispatched at 9:08 a.m. to the 600 block of 132nd Street South for reports of shots fired and a teacher saying two windows were shattered, Pierce County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Carly Cappetto told The News Tribune.
People in the area were interviewed, and deputies checked the area, Cappetto said.
Once it was determined the shots came from a nearby home, deputies contacted the homeowners, she said. They learned their 7-year-old son had shot his BB Gun Glock replica towards the school. The child was gifted the gun from a family member and thought it was a 'toy.'
No one was injured and no arrests were made.
Deputies took in the BB gun for evidence, Cappetto said. The investigation will be forwarded to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for review.
'The Pierce County Sheriff's Office is seeing more and more of these types of 'replica' BB guns with high velocity C02 cartridges. These are not toys and should not be in the hands of children,' she said.
Cappetto cited an incident in May 2024 when 51-year-old Rickey Albers was shot and killed by a pellet gun in the Graham area. His girlfriend, Nicole Lynn Johnson, was charged in his death and pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in February. She has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, The News Tribune reported.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Army vet killed in crash was well-known in Tacoma motorcycle community
When a biker in Pierce County purchased a new motorcycle, they'd often find a little fish hook drawn on its mirror. Rodger Smith, who went by Dean and also was known as 'Fish Hook,' was the usual culprit. 'As soon as you went outside on the bike and looked in your mirror you realized Fish Hook was there,' Ryan Eaton, who considered Smith his best friend, told The News Tribune. 'And there were places you would go and see little fish hooks.' Eaton said seeing little fish hooks now is hard to take after Smith was killed over a week ago in a crash. Smith and his wife were riding their motorcycles on 152nd Street East in South Hill when the driver of a Jeep Cherokee reportedly struck him. Before the crash, the driver's vehicle reportedly went out of control when it exited a right-hand corner, crossed the center line and hit Smith head-on, according to charging documents. Smith was ejected from his bike and died upon impact, documents show. Pierce County prosecutors charged Christy Lynn Carter, 42, with vehicular homicide. Prosecutors say Carter was driving drunk at the time, with her recorded her blood-alcohol level allegedly at 0.15 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08. She was released from the Pierce County Jail on May 28 on a $100,000 bond, records show. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Rodger Smith of Puyallup. He died from multiple blunt force injuries and his manner of death was listed as an accident, according to a news release. Eaton met Smith through mutual friends that he rode motorcycles with over a decade ago. Smith was part of a local motorcycle club in Tacoma and a proud U.S. Army combat veteran. 'He was the kind of guy to try to make everything fun,' Eaton told The News Tribune on Thursday. 'He always tried to put a positive twist on things, and try to get everybody to laugh.' Eaton said he learned of Smith's death after a mutual friend called him to say people had been posting on Facebook about the crash. 'Then I saw the video, the raw video from the scene, and I immediately recognized the bike, because that bike spent several months with me. I just got that bike put back together, had the engine done up, and just got it running right,' Eaton said. 'It was his favorite bike.' The next day, Eaton rode out to the accident scene because felt he needed to go there. 'That's kind of how I had to originally accept what had happened, by actually being there and seeing the large area that this accident scene covered,' he said. Tributes have poured in through Facebook from people who knew Smith. Eaton said his friend was well known, and anytime Smith showed up at an event, there was always someone who knew him there. Smith also always made it a priority to check up on the soldiers that he served with, Eaton said. He would go to reunions with them, making sure they were OK as they had seen stuff 'that none of us want to think about seeing.' 'That's the ultimate sacrifice, to leave your country and lose your life for your country. But to survive it, come home and be taken out this way — it just doesn't seem right,' Eaton said. A celebration of life is scheduled for June 21 when people will be riding to Eatonville for a gathering. There will be a service at the Tahoma National Cemetery on June 25. Eaton said he expected 'quite a few people' to show up at both events.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
2 Tacoma officers who saved man from burning car awarded Medal of Valor
Officers Victor Celis and Cory Correia did not think twice before they rescued David Brooks from his burning car two months ago. For that, they've received a prestigious award Thursday. Celis and Correia were dispatched April 29 to the 900 block of South 96th Street for a single-car crash. A car had struck a pole and fence, with its engine compartment fully engulfed in flames, according to the Tacoma Police Department. Brooks had been driving the vehicle and was still inside when the officers arrived. 'The only thing I remember at that point was I came back to senses, or whatever it might have been, noticing that my airbag had deployed, my car's on fire and I pressed my panic alarm,' Brooks told The News Tribune at a ceremony held to honor Celis and Correia. 'The operator comes on and I said, 'My car's on fire, and I don't think I can get up.'' Celis and Correia pulled Brooks out of the car and had to navigate the smoke, flames and downed wires to move him to a safe distance from the fire. 'Once I was basically at safety, the only thing else I heard was, boom. The car had exploded,' Brooks said. The incident left Brooks with a crushed heel and several fractured bones in his body. Brooks said he was in the ICU and eventually taken to a general room at a hospital. Now, he is going through rehabilitation and recovery. Celis told The News Tribune that saving Brooks was just instinct. 'You don't think about what you're doing. You just go in and you get it done,' Celis said, 'You gotta help him, that's the whole point.' For the rescue, Celis and Correia were awarded the Medal of Valor at the police headquarters. This medal is the highest honor given to police officers in the country for acts of bravery and heroism that went beyond what is normally expected. Both officers told The News Tribune they had learned they were being awarded the Medal of Valor once the ceremony began. 'It feels great,' Correia said when he was asked how receiving the honor felt. 'I think the chief made a good point saying that any one of these other officers would do the exact same thing.' Correia has been with TPD since 2019, while Celis joined the department in 2022. Celis has been in law enforcement for 28 years, and will be joining the Fircrest Police Department in July as their newest chief of police. Interim Police Chief Patti Jackson awarded Celis and Correia their medals during the ceremony as members of the department watched. City manager Elizabeth Pauli, family members of the officers, Brooks and his family also were in attendance. 'Despite the spreading fire, both officers put themselves in harm's way to save the driver's life without waiting for assistance from the Fire Department,' Lt. Shawn Mallot said at the ceremony. Brooks' brother, Steven, thanked the officers in his remarks during the ceremony. He said he had written a letter to Jackson in May, which summarized how grateful his family was. 'These officers are a very good example of what being an unselfish hero is all about,' he said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Pierce County sheriff scoffs at WSP's apology for disrupting Pride flag ceremony
Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank called out the Washington State Patrol on social media Thursday after the statewide law enforcement agency apologized for interrupting the raising of the Pride flag at the state capitol. Swank didn't call out the State Patrol for disrupting the Wednesday ceremony. He said the agency should be 'embarrassed' for apologizing in a post that explained why troopers marched through the ceremony and reiterated its mission to protect, defend and respect the rights of all. 'You should be embarrassed by this post,' Swank wrote on his X account. 'Any WSP who wants to work for a real law enforcement organization should come work at the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.' The post from the State Patrol read: 'The Washington State Patrol offers our heartfelt apologies for disrupting the raising of the Pride Flag on Capitol Campus today. The team leading our cadets to their graduation ceremony did not adequately communicate about the alternate route planned around the crowd.' The post went on: 'It was never our intention to disrupt an important community event. Our motto is 'Service with Humility,' and our mission is to protect, defend and respect the rights of all. We apologize for our misstep on what should be a great day for us all as we celebrate Pride.' Swank did not immediately return a phone call and text message Thursday asking if he would explain why the State Patrol should be embarrassed by the post. Chris Loftis, a spokesperson for the State Patrol, declined to comment on Swank's comment. The event was sponsored by the state's LGBTQ commission and was attended by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson and Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dave Upthegrove, the Olympian reported. Citing statistics showing a significant number of LGBTQ youth have considered suicide in the past year, Upthegrove — also a Democrat — told the newspaper that giving visibility to the LGBTQ community by raising the Pride flag shows people they can live full, meaningful lives. At some point during the ceremony, two lines of troopers marched through the event instead of taking an alternate route around the crowd. Videos of the incident on social media caused some to speculate that the troopers had deliberately disrupted the event to intimidate the crowd. In a written statement, Loftis said there was no intent to offend or distract from the event. He said it was a simple mistake, not any sort of statement. 'We had a miscommunication in our planning, and it led to us inadvertently disrupting another public event being held by citizens we are sworn to serve, protect, and respect,' Loftis wrote. 'We quickly and rightfully apologized to the impacted parties,' he added. 'That was the right things to do as public servants, as a law enforcement agency, and as friends and neighbors.' Swank has a track record of being provocative on social media. He once posted on X that a transgender legislator from Montana, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, was a man with mental health issues who should be called by her given male name. He's also posted that men and women who pretend to be the opposite sex are 'appropriating gender.' Swank retired from the Seattle Police Department in 2023 as a captain after 33 years on the force. But his conduct on social media — denigrating trans people and defending the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — led former Seattle Police Department Chief Sue Rahr to declare earlier this year that he would have been fired if he had stayed.
