TACOMA, Wash. — Two teens who are accused of shooting and injuring a Tacoma police detective have been charged.
The teens, who are both 15 years old and cousins, were expected to appear in court Monday.
KING 5 typically does not name juveniles charged with crimes.
Tacoma Police Department officers were conducting an emphasis on recovering stolen vehicles when the shooting happened Aug. 23.
A Tacoma sergeant saw a 2017 Hyundai near Suth 92nd Street and South Ash Street leaving the area at a high rate of speed. Knowing Hyundais are frequently stolen, the sergeant radioed it in.
A nearby officer spotted the car and turned on their emergency lights.
The Hyundai parked just south of the entrance to the Aero Apartments and the car’s occupants, later identified as the teen suspects, fled toward the rear of the building.
At the time, the detective who was shot was wearing a ballistic vest and sitting inside an unmarked vehicle near the apartments. He went toward the back of the apartment and told investigators he saw one suspect run across the roadway in front of him. The other suspect approached the roadway and pulled out what appeared to be a revolver.
Through an open window, the detective said something to the effect of, “Don’t shoot me.” The suspect fired at the detective, hitting him in the right shoulder through the passenger window, according to probable cause documents.
The detective told investigators that he then got out of his car and the suspect fled.
While police were searching for the teens, the suspect accused of shooting the detective called his father asking to be picked up. The teen sent his father a pin of his location, and the father contacted police.
Police found the teens hiding under a deck near South 95th Street and South Alaska Street. Surveillance footage shows the teens climbed over the fence and crawled under the deck, according to probable cause documents.
The Hyundai was an unreported stolen vehicle, according to police. The registered owner didn’t know it was missing at the time of the shooting.
One 15-year-old was charged Monday with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said it will seek to charge this teen as an adult. Cases involving 15-year-olds are never automatically declined into adult court, but prosecutors can seek a discretionary decline.
The other teen was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
At the hearing, the parents of the teens pleaded with the judge for leniency.
"This is a child,” said the father of the teen charged with second-degree attempted murder. “Despite whatever mistakes he's being accused of, and I want everyone to consider that, I want everyone to hyperfocus on that fact."