Crime

Citizens guarding Spanaway Army recruiting office leave strip mall after owner complains

By Alexis Krell

Staff writer
Zach, 27, left, and his good friend Matt, 34, stand outside the U.S. Army Recruiting Office on 16204 Pacific Ave. South, Spanaway, carrying AR-15 rifles and holstered semiautomatic handguns. Zach said he called the office earlier in the morning to ask if it would be all right for them to come out. He said they are there because of the shooting at another recruiting office in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that left five service members dead. Deanna Rine, seated behind, said "it is all right with me that they are here posing for pictures with their guns." Rine was just hanging out in front of the recruiting office.
Zach, 27, left, and his good friend Matt, 34, stand outside the U.S. Army Recruiting Office on 16204 Pacific Ave. South, Spanaway, carrying AR-15 rifles and holstered semiautomatic handguns. Zach said he called the office earlier in the morning to ask if it would be all right for them to come out. He said they are there because of the shooting at another recruiting office in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that left five service members dead. Deanna Rine, seated behind, said "it is all right with me that they are here posing for pictures with their guns." Rine was just hanging out in front of the recruiting office. David Montesino Staff photographer

Armed citizens no longer guard the Army recruiting center in Spanaway after Pierce County sheriff’s deputies asked them to leave Thursday.

Two Parkland men with AR-15 rifles sat out front of the center in the 15000 block of Pacific Avenue South on Wednesday. They were part of a national movement by citizens to guard recruiting centers after an attack last week at one in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

A gunman fired at the Tennessee office, then drove to a nearby Navy and Marine reserve center, where he fatally shot four Marines and one sailor. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police.

Managers and owners of property near the Spanaway center asked deputies to request that the armed citizens leave after their heavily armed ranks grew Thursday following creation of a Facebook page, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

“They left at the end of the business day Thursday and agreed not to come back,” Troyer said. “We appreciate their energy and willingness to do what they did. Sends a strong message.”

No armed civilians returned to the recruiting center Friday.

Troyer said deputies did not run the names of the armed men or investigate them because they had not committed a crime and were cooperative.

Alexis Krell: 253-597-8268

alexis.krell@thenewstribune.com

thenewstribune.com/crime

@amkrell

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Citizens guarding Spanaway Army recruiting office leave strip mall after owner complains."

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