Deputies arrest man who shot at car thief, missed and hit sleeping woman a block away

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. -- A woman has died after being hit by a stray bullet in what appears to be a tragic accident. Deputies said she was shot in the head when a man was running down the street firing at someone who was stealing his car.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, witnesses called 911 shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday to report hearing ten gunshots in the Prairie Ridge Area.

At 11:30 p.m., a woman called 911 to report that her son's car had been stolen about half an hour earlier from their home in the 12300 block of Prairie Ridge Dr. E. The caller told dispatchers her son fired multiple shots at the car thief and vehicle before chasing it down the road.



Shortly after midnight, a man called dispatchers to report that his mother was suffering from a head injury in the 12400 block of Prairie Ridge Dr. E. The caller said he heard his mother making strange noises and went to check on her. That's when he found her on the bedroom floor bleeding from her head. He thought she injured herself from a fall.

Firefighters and medics arrived at the scene of the injury while detectives were still collecting evidence related to the car theft. Investigators went inside the home with firefighters and noticed a bullet hole in the window. The woman had been shot in the head, police said.

The woman, 61, was taken with to a nearby hospital where she later died.



The owner of the car, a 40-year-old man, is cooperating with police and was booked into Pierce County Jail for investigation of 2nd degree assault.