TACOMA, Wash. - Officers responding to a loud music complaint shot and killed an armed man on Sunday night in south Tacoma.
The incident unfolded just after 10 p.m. when 911 dispatchers received a call from someone in the neighborhood complaining about loud music coming from a home in the 3400 block of South Proctor Street.
Responding officers saw a man inside the home grab a gun and move toward the door to the residence. One of the officers shot the man just outside the home. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say a SWAT team then surrounded the residence and cleared everyone else out of the home, which is a duplex. The man's parents live in the other unit.
The man's mother was there and said she didn't hear any loud music. She says, "I think this could have been handled differently."
Steve Gary, a neighbor who witnessed the incident, said he heard 14 gunshots.
"I just heard - it sounded like 14 gun shots, you know, seven in a row - and then another seven. That's all I heard," he said.
The man's father, Steven Cunningham, says his son was a gun collector.
"He's handled guns all his life," he said. "He has a gun collection, eight or 12 rifles."
The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave, while the shooting is investigated. He is 34 years old and has been with the Tacoma police department for six years.
Poster Comment:
Rock 'n Roll + Guns = Must Die