Suspect in Tumwater hotel shooting ‘quite violent,’ judge says, sets bail at $2M

A Thurston County judge set bail at $2 million for a 37-year-old man suspected of shooting another man near a Tumwater hotel.

Jamel A. Soliman appeared before Judge Mary Sue Wilson on Monday in Thurston County Superior Court. Soliman will likely face charges of first-degree assault while armed with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The shooting victim, a Thurston County man, was still alive Monday and was able to aid police in the investigation, according to court documents.

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Jeffery Lippert described Soliman’s criminal history as violent and lengthy. It includes a 2006 conviction for a drive-by shooting, and other convictions from Pierce and Thurston counties. He asked that Soliman be held without bail.

But Public Defender Eric Pilon said that it had been some time since Soliman’s last conviction — an organized retail theft conviction from 2013. He asked that bail be set at $10,000.

“These are very serious allegations, but they are just allegations at this point,” Pilon said.

Wilson said she considered the criminal history to be “quite violent” and set bail at $2 million.

Soliman was arrested in the early hours of Friday after the victim was found at the Best Western hotel at 5188 Capitol Blvd. SE. The victim told police that he had been shot by “some gangster wanna-be,” according to court documents.

The man said he had been at the Best Western using the internet, and decided to walk to the store to get some food. As he was walking back to the hotel, he encountered a man he didn’t know.

The victim said he called out to the man, saying, “Hey buddy, what’s up?” The man responded with profanities, according to court documents.

The man came toward him, the victim reported. They began fighting. The victim said he put the other man in a headlock.

The man pulled out a gun and shot him, the victim reported.

Officers located the suspect and identified him as Soliman. They found a Ruger LCP .380 on the ground near where they found him, according to court documents.

Soliman had been staying at the nearby Motel 6, and officers found hollow-point ammunition, tissues with blood on them, and spots of blood in Soliman’s room, according to court documents.

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Suspect in Tumwater hotel shooting ‘quite violent,’ judge says, sets bail at $2M."