Deputies: Man Broke Into Gig Harbor Home, Shot Elderly Woman

GIG HARBOR, WA — A 58-year-old man has been arrested, accused of a killing his elderly neighbor Saturday evening, officials said.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, before the man killed his neighbor, he had been the subject of a mental health call earlier in the day.

Deputies and mental health co-responders were called to a neighborhood in the 6500 block of Valley View Drive NW in the Gig Harbor around 3 p.m. Saturday, after a caller had reported that a neighbor was acting strangely, and setting up "devices to scare off wildlife."

The deputies and mental health professionals went to check up on the neighbor, but couldn't find him at his home or the surrounding area, and gave up their search. The sheriff's office said that an hour and 25 minutes later, they learned that that same man had shot someone.

That call came in around 7:23 p.m.— when the man's relative called 911 because he told them he had shot his neighbor, the sheriff's office said. Officers returned to the neighborhood on Valley View Drive NW once again, and found 76-year-old next door neighbor dead inside her home. Officers say she had been shot several times.

After contacting the Tacoma and Ruston police departments for help, deputies said they searched several areas for the suspect, including a home in north Tacoma and the Ruston Way Waterfont. Eventually, an officer saw the man's car, empty, parked in a lot near the Les Davis Pier, the sheriff's office said. After searching the surrounding area, he was found and taken into custody about 30 minutes later, around 9:30 p.m.

The suspect, only described by police as a 58-year-old man, has been taken into the Pierce County Jail. Deputies say they expect him to be charged with murder in the first degree.