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Suspects flee after gunfight in Tanglewilde community

Shell casings found; officials unsure if anyone was injured

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published March 27, 2009

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A gunfight erupted Thursday afternoon among four or five people in the Tangle­wilde neighborhood in front of a house neighbors say is used as a base for drug dealing.

"This is like the Wild West," said Greg Bergman, who lives a few doors from where the shooting started at Third Avenue and Choker Street and saw the gunfire.

It was unknown Thursday whether anyone had been struck, but neighbor Ed Peavey said he saw one of the participants drop to the ground as the bullets flew.

"I saw one kid go down and I thought he had been shot," Peavey said.

A stray bullet went through two walls in a nearby house and lodged in a refrigerator, sheriff's Lt. Chris Mealy said Thursday night. The home was occupied by a woman and her child. Mealy said the occupants were not involved in the dispute.

After the gunfire, responding sheriff's deputies left numbered evidence cards tallying the bullets and shell casings that littered the ground. At least 10 shell casings were on the ground directly in front of the home at Third and Choker.

A pair of flip-flops also lay abandoned on the ground near the shell casings."He was so scared he jumped out of his shoes and ran," Bergman said.

He said he heard at least 18 shots.

A radio dispatcher said the gunfire started about 1:25 p.m. By the time deputies responded, all of the suspects were gone, Dunn said. A gold-colored Mazda Protege riddled by gunfire with a broken rear windshield was parked a short distance from the home at Third and Choker, on Samurai Drive. Dunn said sheriff's deputies think the occupants of the shot-up Mazda abandoned the car there and fled on foot.

As of 8:30 p.m. Thursday, no one was in custody, but sheriff's detectives were searching for an SUV that had fled. Detectives "know who that belongs to," Thurston County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Dunn said of the vehicle.

Dunn said that as of about 3 p.m., deputies had no reports of anyone being admitted to area hospitals with gunshot-related injuries.

Residents said gunfire in their neighborhood is becoming more common. Bergman said drug deals are conducted on the corner where the shooting happened.