On the night of December 12, 2023, what started as a suspected DUI stop in Puyallup turned into a roadside gunfight that left two Pierce County Sheriff's deputies wounded and a suspect mortally injured. Months later, the department revisited the chaos of that night in a March 6 post titled "Courage Under Fire," calling it an incident their deputies will not soon forget and crediting quick action, teamwork and protective gear with preventing far worse injuries.
What happened
According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, deputies were pursuing a vehicle suspected of DUI on December 12 when the chase ended at a dead end. Moments later, deputies radioed "shots fired," triggering a major law enforcement response.
Pierce County SWAT and a Tacoma Police armored vehicle rolled in, and what followed was a prolonged standoff before SWAT eventually moved in and pulled the suspect from the vehicle.
In its March 6 "Courage Under Fire" post, the sheriff's office said both deputies were hit by gunfire but escaped life-threatening injury. One deputy took a round squarely in the ballistic vest, which stopped the bullet. The other deputy was grazed by a round and suffered minor cuts from shattered glass.
The department said the suspect was armed with a handgun equipped with an extended magazine, later died from his injuries, and had been linked by deputies to a recent double homicide and to a white-supremacist gang. Those details appeared in the department's summary of the incident on X.
Investigation and oversight
The Pierce County Sheriff's Office blotter notes that the case was referred to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team (PCFIT), a multi-agency unit that independently investigates uses of deadly force involving officers. PCFIT coordinates forensic work with prosecutors and is the standard mechanism in the county for outside review of officer-involved deadly-force incidents, with the stated goal of providing an external and transparent accounting of what happened.
Local context
In later posts, the department described the December 12 shooting as part of a troubling run of deputy-involved incidents in a short span of time. A follow-up blotter entry labeled it the fourth deputy-involved shooting in five weeks and highlighted growing concern for deputy safety as multiple investigations unfolded in parallel.
Department message
Wrapping up its March 6 "Courage Under Fire" post, the sheriff's office leaned on a familiar line about bravery, quoting, "courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway," and thanked community members for backing deputies while investigators continue to assemble the full record.
Officials have not provided further public information about the suspect's alleged connections to an out-of-jurisdiction double homicide beyond what appeared in the department's blotter entry and its X post. For now, those two accounts remain the most detailed official descriptions of the December 12 shooting.
