A 22-year-old woman has been charged after a 10-year-old boy was hit with a gunshot during a drive-by shooting in a Lakewood parking lot.
The woman was with a group of people when an altercation began Feb. 10 with another group, which led to shots being fired across the B&I shopping center parking lot on South Tacoma Way. Seven vehicles sustained gunfire damage, and the child was struck in the back of the head, according to charging documents.
The extent of the boy's injuries was not reported in charging documents. The News Tribune has reached out to the Lakewood Police Department for more information.
Pierce County prosecutors charged the woman with two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of drive-by shooting. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest on Friday, court records show. The News Tribune is not naming the woman as she is not in police custody.
Lakewood police were dispatched to the scene at 3:18 p.m. to reports of a possible shooting. The 10-year-old was in the back seat of his family's Hyundai Elantra. He was crying because of the bullet wound to his head. The boy was taken for treatment at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.
Police discovered cartridge casings in the parking lot near the damaged vehicles. They learned from an employee at a nearby store that the shooting suspects might be three females. An employee told police he confronted the women because he believed one of them shoplifted, prosecutors wrote.
One of the women opened her jacket and displayed a black pistol to him. This woman was later identified as the defendant, prosecutors wrote.
Detectives spoke to the mother of the child later that week who said after they left the B&I building, they were driving through the parking lot and heard an altercation among numerous people. They were curious and parked nearby to watch and listen. They decided to leave after a minute or so and as they backed out, a Mazda approached them from the rear driver's side. It honked at them to keep them from backing out as it crossed behind them. Then they heard gunshots, prosecutors wrote.
The mother saw an arm extending from the driver's side, rear passenger window of the car holding a pistol and firing. The child cried out and the mother realized her son had been shot. Through video surveillance and witness testimony, it was determined that the defendant was in the driver's rear passenger side of the vehicle.
Video surveillance showed that three women arrived in the parking lot in a Mazda about 2:57 p.m. A Chevy Suburban then arrived and parked two minutes later. That vehicle contained a number of people, including a boy.
The group was inside B&I between 3 p.m. and 3:14 p.m., and during that time the defendant displayed the pistol to the employee, prosecutors wrote.
Outside the B&I at 3:14 p.m., some of the people from the Suburban were "aggressively pointing" at the defendant and yelling at her. The defendant continued arguing before going to the Mazda. It was not shown on camera, but the defendant was seen by witnesses entering the rear driver's side of the Mazda, prosecutors wrote.
As the Mazda drove in front of the B&I building, it passed the victim's vehicle. The pistol is seen sticking out of the rear driver's side where the defendant is sitting. The video shows people in the parking lot reacting to the gunshot, prosecutors wrote.
One of the passengers of the Suburban, a 15-year-old boy, was shown shooting back while on foot. He and two other people ran to the Suburban. The Mazda is seen leaving the scene at 3:17 p.m. headed toward South Tacoma Way. The Suburban does the same, prosecutors wrote.
It was determined that the defendant was the one who struck the 10-year-old boy based off the trajectory of her bullets. Prosecutors also wrote that the 15-year-old and the defendant were firing at each other in a large parking lot with no apparent concern for the welfare of anyone.
The gun fired by the defendant was not recovered at the scene, prosecutors wrote.
