Latest news with #TacomaPoliceDepartment
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
1 boy shot outside Lincoln High School in Tacoma. No arrests made, police say
Update: Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Sgt. John Correa told The News Tribune at the scene that police received multiple calls around 2:49 p.m. reporting shots heard outside Lincoln High School. More calls came in from a nearby business after a boy showed up with a gunshot wound. 'What started the argument, what started the shots, we don't know at this time,' Correa said. 'We're still investigating it.' The victim has been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Correa. Police have the scene spanning South 37th Street and South G Street closed for forensic processing and there is some traffic congestion in the area, he said. A collision down the road involved four cars, including a police vehicle enroute to the scene of the shooting and a school bus with no students onboard, according to Correa. Initial post: One boy was shot outside of Lincoln High School in Tacoma Tuesday afternoon. The shooting took place just before school ended in the 700 block of South 37th Street. The boy sustained a gunshot wound, and the status of his injuries was not immediately known, Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Sgt. John Correa told The News Tribune. Correa said it was not immediately known if the injured boy is a student at the school. The alleged shooter has not been arrested, Correa said. The cause for the shooting is being investigated. The school went into a modified lockdown as a precaution after 911 was called for the shooting. That restricted access in and out of the building, according to Tacoma Public Schools chief communications officer Tanisha Jumper in a statement. 'As this is an active investigation we have no other statement at this time. Counselor will be on site tomorrow to provide support to students and staff,' she said. While responding to the shooting, a police sergeant was involved in a crash with other cars. Correa said he 'is fine and OK' as well as the other people involved in the crash. Correa said he could not confirm how many other cars were involved in the crash. Two people were transported to a local hospital by Tacoma Fire personnel, a department spokesperson told the News Tribune. Buddy's Chicken and Waffles on South G Street posted on Instagram it closed early because its block is an active crime scene. Reporter Julia Park contributed to this story.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Tacoma police release details on how toddler subject to AMBER Alert was found
Tacoma police released additional details Monday about the search that unfolded after a 2-year-old girl went missing Saturday, leading to her safe return hours later. Authorities activated an AMBER Alert across the state a little over two hours after a woman called to report her daughter, Delilah Everett, couldn't be found in or around a residence in the 4200 block of South Prospect Street, according to a police news release Monday. The alert was canceled that afternoon. Police announced that Delilah had been returned to her family unharmed and they were questioning a man in custody, The News Tribune reported. The Tacoma Police Department initially posted on Facebook that a man was suspected of taking the girl in his car after entering a fast-food restaurant at 4112 S. Steele St. at 9:10 a.m. Saturday. A man who wrote that he is Everett's father posted a reply to the Police Department's post Saturday afternoon, saying that he is grateful for the man who took the girl and that the man saved his daughter. The father declined to comment when The News Tribune reached him via direct message Monday, saying he had already talked to several other news teams, but said he would inform The News Tribune if he has a statement in the future. Here's how police found the toddler, according to the news release: ▪ 9:30 a.m: A call came in from a mother who said her child was missing from a residence in the 4200 block of South Prospect Street. An employee at a nearby business called to report that a man recently entered the business, saying he found the child alone outside and was looking for her parents. When the employee told him that police would be called to help, the man left with the child in his silver sedan. Police began searching for the child and the man based on surveillance footage from the business. Officers checked nearby police stations and the Tacoma Mall, contacted local hospitals and Tacoma Fire stations and ran searches through Flock Safety systems and Automated License Plate Reader technology for the man's vehicle. The search was unsuccessful. ▪ 9:52 a.m.: Suspecting a child abduction, the police patrol shift commander activated the department's Child Abduction Response Team (CART), which includes criminal investigators and personnel from various agencies trained to 'quickly and effectively recover a child who has been abducted, or who is missing under suspicious circumstances by utilizing a team of trained personnel.' ▪ 10:30 a.m.: CART members began arriving on scene and were briefed on the situation as patrol officers continued the search. ▪ 11:42 a.m.: In the absence of new information about the child's location or why she was taken, the Washington State Patrol issued an AMBER Alert across the state notifying the public of the missing child. The alert said the girl was last seen walking on South Steele Street before a man drove away with her toward 38th Street, The News Tribune reported. 'Within minutes, dozens of calls came in from community members,' the news release said. ▪ 11:50 a.m.: A caller provided authorities with 'key identifying information' about the man seen with the missing child. ▪ 12:06 p.m.: Based on the caller's information, police located the man's address, where they found the missing child. Police took the man into custody and interviewed him at police headquarters. Police also interviewed the man's friends and family. Police booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on an outstanding warrant and forwarded their investigation to prosecutors for a charging decision. The investigation is still active, and police might share further updates after a charging decision. 'The Tacoma Police Department would like to thank the community and our agency partners for their swift assistance during this incident,' the release says.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Tacoma ex-deputy police chief had ‘pattern of disrespect' to women, inquiry says
The Tacoma Police Department's former deputy chief, Paul Junger, wasn't fired for one egregious incident, an investigation report shows, but because of consistent demeaning behavior that created a hostile work environment for women. One instance, in which Junger downgraded a patrol officer's punishment for creating a meme that disrespected his commanding officer and three other women, was described as appearing to be part of a 'pattern of disrespect' to women. That pattern included belittling comments Junger made to Assistant Chief Crystal Young-Haskins, who brought a Human Resources complaint against him in November, weeks after she reported his behavior to former Police Chief Avery Moore. It also entailed questioning her judgment in front of her peers, interrupting her in meetings, not accepting her advice but taking it from men and undermining Young-Haskins by offering support to her in private but then withdrawing it in public. One witness said Junger's treatment was 'death by a thousand cuts.' Those are some of the findings outlined in a March 26 report authored by an attorney with the Seattle-based law firm Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC detailing an investigation into Junger's behavior in the workplace. The 21-page report was released to The News Tribune through a public records request with some redactions. It determined that allegations of a hostile work environment and gender discrimination were true. Interim Police Chief Patti Jackson chose to terminate Junger's employment March 31 based on the external investigation. 'The evidence provided by [redacted] and other witnesses was of numerous incidents, actions and comments, most of which if taken individually would be considered unpleasant, derogatory and/or inappropriate, but would not, taken alone, constitute a hostile work environment,' the report states. 'However, the events and actions must be considered together, to show the 'totality of the circumstances.'' Junger did not respond to a request for comment about the investigation Tuesday. The report notes that after he returned to work from administrative leave last year, he apologized to several people individually for the way he had treated them. 'Junger explained that his leadership style is building trust and relationships, and so after being placed on administrative leave he felt this was the appropriate way to try and rebuild relationships with individuals in the department,' the report states. The witnesses who spoke to the investigator about the apologies were all Black women, according to the report, and several described it as an 'apology tour.' Most thought it was too little, too late, but one said Junger's apology felt sincere. As deputy chief and the department's second in command, Junger was responsible for assisting in the overall direction of the department's internal operations. He reported to the chief of police, and the department's three assistant chiefs reported to him. According to The News Tribune's salary database, his total pay in 2023 was $272,455.60 Young-Haskins also did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Although it was Young-Haskins who filed a complaint with the city's HR department, the investigator described how multiple women were subjected to discriminatory behavior. According to the report, three women who left the Police Department tied their departures, in part, to how Junger treated them. 'A witness who left the department after 35 years told me that she was treated extremely disrespectfully and condescendingly by Junger, including an incident where he was angry about something she and AC [redacted] had done, and he approached them, pointing his finger and saying 'You. Down the hall. NOW.'' Young-Haskins now leads the Investigations Bureau for the Police Department. She came to Tacoma in summer 2022 from Little Rock, Arkansas, where she served as the city's interim police chief. Junger joined the Tacoma Police Department around the same time from the Dallas Police Department, where he worked with Moore. Young-Haskins complained of Junger's harassing behavior about two years after she began working in Tacoma, but her emailed report to HR said the hostile work environment began shortly after she was hired. She said she feared coming forward about Junger because she wanted to be a team player and of a desire to do her job to the best of her ability. Not all of Young-Haskins' allegations about Junger were substantiated by workplace investigation. The claim that Junger engaged in race discrimination was not sustained, and allegations of age discrimination and that he retaliated against Young-Haskins were deemed to be unfounded. The report said it was difficult to determine whether race played a factor in Junger's treatment of employees, noting that the treatment was directed toward a white woman as well as several Black women, but it wasn't directed toward all white women in the department. Instead, the treatment seemed directed toward women who reported directly to Junger, and it appeared more aligned with gender differences. One man interviewed for the investigation recalled a time when Junger referred to the women assistant chiefs as 'the girls' in a private meeting in 2024 where no women were present. A man also reported that Junger commented to him that one of the women assistant chiefs wasn't really sick when she called out of work for a sick day. Young-Haskins reported that Junger gave her unequal treatment for her use of leave. The investigation found examples of male employees receiving less scrutiny for leave requests, and it described one incident that escalated to Junger contacting a deputy city attorney. That incident appears to have prompted Young-Haskins to report Junger's behavior to the police chief. In October 2024, according to the report, Young-Haskins was scheduled to attend a conference that required her to travel from Seattle to Boston. Her leave request was for the dates of the conference, Oct. 18-22, but she didn't include time needed to travel to and from the conference, which required an extra day before it started and after it ended. Young-Haskins notified the person who was covering for her that she needed the extra time, and she sent a memo via email about the correct dates of her absence, which Junger received, according to the report. On Oct. 23, while Young-Haskins was on her flight out of Boston, Junger emailed and texted her to ask her if she would be attending the one-on-one meeting they had scheduled that day. Young-Haskins tried to respond to the text, but it didn't go through, according to the report, and she wasn't able to respond to him until her plane landed hours later. When Junger was interviewed about that for the investigation, he said he believed Young-Haskins was 'AWOL' or absent without leave. According to the report, he repeatedly questioned her about the absence and talked to the deputy city attorney assigned to the Police Department. Young-Haskins asserted that Junger was being unreasonable and treating her differently than her male counterparts. 'She noted that when Junger did not know where one of his team members were, he would ask around, but never implied or stated that the person was AWOL,' the report states. When Junger was interviewed, he said he relied on the dates in the leave request, and, when she was absent, he was concerned. The day after Young-Haskins got back from Boston, she reported to Moore that she felt Junger had created a hostile work environment and subjected her to unlawful harassment, according to her email to HR. An embarrassing image depicting a caricature of Young-Haskins and three other women in the department was another subject of Junger's investigation because of his decision to downgrade the punishment of the patrol officer who made it. The investigation doesn't show the meme or describe it in detail, but an internal investigation about it reportedly found it was offensive to women and constituted insubordination toward one of the women it depicted. 'The creator of the meme was unapologetic about it and stated the women deserved it,' according to the report. A bureau-level reprimand was recommended for the patrol officer, which stays on file for five years. Typically the decision of whether to discipline an officer and how severe that punishment should be is up to the police chief, but Moore was on leave when the investigation concluded. Junger was entitled to make the decision himself as acting chief in the meantime, and he decided to instead give the officer who created the meme an oral reprimand, which stays on file for one year instead of five. That outcome 'surprised and upset' two people interviewed for Junger's workplace investigation. One said Junger's actions indicated the department doesn't support women in leadership. Another said his actions were a 'slap in the face.' Junger said he believed the five-year reprimand was too harsh, and he considered the fact that the patrol officer didn't have any prior disciplinary matters. Junger also said the officer would have to take some form of training, which he felt was consistent with the department's progressive discipline policy.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
Police search for suspects the murders of two Tacoma women
Tacoma Police Department (TPD) is searching for suspects in the murders of two women found in a car in the Tacoma Tide Flats area. TPD says on Feb. 20, a business owner called police around 2:26 p.m. after he saw two women sitting in a car for an extended period. When police arrived, they found two women, 43-year-old Amber Bazan and 54-year-old Wanda Davis, in the car, both with gunshot wounds. Police say that if you have any information to send tips here, through the P3 Tips App, or call 1-800-222-TIPS.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
2 Tacoma officers who saved man from burning car awarded Medal of Valor
Officers Victor Celis and Cory Correia did not think twice before they rescued David Brooks from his burning car two months ago. For that, they've received a prestigious award Thursday. Celis and Correia were dispatched April 29 to the 900 block of South 96th Street for a single-car crash. A car had struck a pole and fence, with its engine compartment fully engulfed in flames, according to the Tacoma Police Department. Brooks had been driving the vehicle and was still inside when the officers arrived. 'The only thing I remember at that point was I came back to senses, or whatever it might have been, noticing that my airbag had deployed, my car's on fire and I pressed my panic alarm,' Brooks told The News Tribune at a ceremony held to honor Celis and Correia. 'The operator comes on and I said, 'My car's on fire, and I don't think I can get up.'' Celis and Correia pulled Brooks out of the car and had to navigate the smoke, flames and downed wires to move him to a safe distance from the fire. 'Once I was basically at safety, the only thing else I heard was, boom. The car had exploded,' Brooks said. The incident left Brooks with a crushed heel and several fractured bones in his body. Brooks said he was in the ICU and eventually taken to a general room at a hospital. Now, he is going through rehabilitation and recovery. Celis told The News Tribune that saving Brooks was just instinct. 'You don't think about what you're doing. You just go in and you get it done,' Celis said, 'You gotta help him, that's the whole point.' For the rescue, Celis and Correia were awarded the Medal of Valor at the police headquarters. This medal is the highest honor given to police officers in the country for acts of bravery and heroism that went beyond what is normally expected. Both officers told The News Tribune they had learned they were being awarded the Medal of Valor once the ceremony began. 'It feels great,' Correia said when he was asked how receiving the honor felt. 'I think the chief made a good point saying that any one of these other officers would do the exact same thing.' Correia has been with TPD since 2019, while Celis joined the department in 2022. Celis has been in law enforcement for 28 years, and will be joining the Fircrest Police Department in July as their newest chief of police. Interim Police Chief Patti Jackson awarded Celis and Correia their medals during the ceremony as members of the department watched. City manager Elizabeth Pauli, family members of the officers, Brooks and his family also were in attendance. 'Despite the spreading fire, both officers put themselves in harm's way to save the driver's life without waiting for assistance from the Fire Department,' Lt. Shawn Mallot said at the ceremony. Brooks' brother, Steven, thanked the officers in his remarks during the ceremony. He said he had written a letter to Jackson in May, which summarized how grateful his family was. 'These officers are a very good example of what being an unselfish hero is all about,' he said.
