Donald Salave'a started mumbling something under his breath as he sat in a Tacoma police patrol car on May 23 waiting to get booked into jail.
It was the second time he'd been in that position — handcuffed, suspected of a shocking crime, talking to himself — in a week.
But his second trip in a squad car came four days too late.
Law enforcement decided to drop Salave'a, 37, off at a Tacoma 7-Eleven rather than the Pierce County Jail the night of May 19 when police records show he was bent on revenge for his daughter and had access to a gun.
That decision might have cost 46-year-old Reagan Kimbrough his life.
Kimbrough was shot to death just hours after police began investigating him and Salave'a, along with a third man who has not been charged, for allegedly taking a University Place man's vehicle at gunpoint.
Prosecutors allege Salave'a, 37, wielded the gun in the robbery and also charged him with illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. He remains jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail while awaiting trial for second-degree murder.
Worried the men who stole his car would get away, the robbery victim chased his stolen Lexus and the car the suspects arrived in for about 20 minutes despite the pleas of a dispatcher. The victim agreed to drive home and meet police after sharing the Eastside Tacoma address where Kimbrough stopped.
Then, as University Place deputies contracted from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department left the victim's much-delayed interview, they got an update about their suspects, and the address the robbery victim had given them less than two hours earlier.
Kimbrough was dead in the hallway with a bullet in his head.
A witness said a man matching the description of Salave'a pulled the trigger and provided a nickname for him that police tracked to Salave'a. Others said he frequently visited the house while armed.
Police reports authored after the homicide blamed the lack of an armed robbery arrest on the victim's refusal to cooperate.
But hundreds of pages of investigative documents and court filings reviewed by The News Tribune suggest police might have had probable cause to arrest Salave'a on suspicion of hit and run in the car he allegedly stole, if not for the robbery itself.
Documents also show that police did not attempt to call the armed robbery victim after receiving his phone number from dispatchers, and released Salave'a about 15 minutes later. For at least another 30 minutes, deputies didn't respond to the victim's house.
A Pierce County Sheriff's spokesperson said COVID-19 protocols prevent deputies from jailing suspects of misdemeanor hit-and-run, which is normally a bookable offense. But deputies can also ask the jail to make exceptions, such as in the case of an active armed robbery investigation.
Police records do not indicate any deputy or police officer called to ask about booking Salave'a.
The records raise questions: Whether law enforcement acted too cautiously and let a violent felony suspect — and soon-to-be suspected killer — walk free amid an onslaught of crime that officials say could be stopped through a combination of hiring more officers, concentrating on crime hot spots and intervening with repeat offenders, among other measures.
"The law is 100% clear that they could have arrested and brought the person into jail, but the exercise of discretion went the other way," Steve Graham, a defense attorney and former prosecutor for King and Ferry counties, told The News Tribune following a review of charging documents and police reports.
"With the benefit of hindsight, this was something that they all regret, I'm sure," he added. But with law enforcement agencies understaffed and overburdened, "I can't say it's really surprising or shocking."
Salave'a is a repeat offender. Prior to the incidents that led to the recent charges, his Pierce County convictions included eluding police in a stolen vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, as well as juvenile convictions for child rape and molestation.
Outside the patrol car following the arrest of Salave'a on May 23, detective Michael Young tried to tease out the reason Kimbrough had been shot four days earlier. He asked Salave'a to repeat what he'd been mumbling.
Salave'a said the cop had no idea what it was like and asked what he would do in that situation. Salave'a stared at Young through the bars on the window and repeated the words.
"Molested my daughter."
Young tried to get Salave'a to speak in full sentences, but he had already resumed his muttering.
Uncooperative victim
The squad car revelation from Salave'a wasn't the first time he had accused Kimbrough of molesting his daughter, though police reports released to The News Tribune present no evidence to support the allegation.
At the scene of the University Place armed robbery, Salave'a glared at Kimbrough like he wanted to kill him, said the victim, Jamie Gibbs, 61.
"He acted like he was gonna shoot the dude in my yard," Gibbs told The News Tribune in a phone interview.
Gibbs told The News Tribune he met Kimbrough on the streets of Tacoma about 20 years ago. Gibbs has lived at the same house with his mom for about 30 years after growing up with her as a single parent in Tacoma. He and Kimbrough sometimes went to the casino together and Kimbrough came to his house for clothes and food.
Gibbs has some criminal convictions from that time, mostly related to minor theft and drugs in the '90s. He's also a registered sex offender from a rape conviction in 1984 and has a history of domestic violence.
In the years since he's worked manual labor jobs and is now on disability due to a heart condition. He said some days he can walk, some days he can't.
Before Kimbrough showed up in his yard, Gibbs said he hadn't seen Kimbrough in about a year when he caught Kimbrough stealing a phone out of his car. Gibbs told police he bear-sprayed him.
Kimbrough's Pierce County criminal record includes armed bank robbery and burglary but does not mention Gibbs. He was also charged with armed robbery in King County in 2015 but pleaded guilty to theft and third-degree assault.
But Gibbs didn't know this stranger waving a gun and asking for a car, or a third guy taking pictures of the house and saying he had a gun as well. Gibbs said he told Salave'a he could buy one of his cars if he had money. Salave'a said his car had bullet holes in it.
Salave'a was acting strange and unpredictable but Gibbs said he trusted Kimbrough to ensure things wouldn't go south.
"I didn't know he was gonna jack me for my car," Gibbs told The News Tribune.
He didn't hear Salave'a accuse him of molesting his daughter, but his girlfriend did.
"I just want to know who molested my daughter. I will show up in a snap. Was it him or was it him?" Salave'a asked, according to police reports.
"I'll smoke both."
Once things settled down, the men got into a car together, ate, drank and smoked marijuana.
"I was cautious, scared and trying to do the best thing I knew how to do," Gibbs told The News Tribune.
Then Salave'a tried to hand him his gun after taking the bullets out.
"And once he did that it was time for them to go," Gibbs told The News Tribune.
When Gibbs tried to leave in his Lincoln sedan, he said Salave'a stopped him, pulled out his gun and demanded the keys to the Lexus in his driveway. A Ring camera recording shows Gibbs' girlfriend handing over the keys.
The couple drove down the street to hide and call 911. But Gibbs was not going to let his 2001 Lexus ES300 get away.
"I didn't feel like he committed a crime until he took my car," Gibbs told The News Tribune. He added later, "When I think about it, I had the opportunity to go in the house and dial 911, but I didn't think that I had to."
After watching the suspects drive off in the Lexus and the Buick they arrived in, Gibbs started to follow them.
Recordings of his 911 call capture the exchange with a dispatcher commanding him to go home.
"No, I'm following them!" Gibbs cried out. "They just robbed me and my girl at my mom's house!"
Gibbs didn't care that one of them had a gun. His girlfriend told the dispatcher it was better than going home and fearing the suspects would come back or get away with it. She said criminals were preying on lower-income people and not getting caught.
"I want all three of them to go to jail!" Gibbs shouted over the phone.
Gibbs followed the Buick Kimbrough drove off in all the way to the 1300 block of East Fairbanks Street — the scene of the homicide mere hours later.
He said the man who drove away in his Lexus was the one who had the gun, but that information wasn't entered into the dispatch log.
After about 24 minutes on the phone, the dispatcher convinced Gibbs to go home but never asked for a suspect description. She said a deputy would be waiting for him at his house.
"We have no crime if we cannot contact him," a University Place deputy insistent on interviewing Gibbs in person messaged to dispatchers, who said they didn't have a phone number for him.
The deputy, Dustin Markholt, wrote in a computerized dispatch system that they would discuss what to do about getting in touch with Gibbs.
Police reports do not reflect any additional conversations about developing probable cause from dispatch information or responding to the Fairbanks address to contact Kimbrough.
Courtesy ride to 7-Eleven
Meanwhile, police found Gibbs' Lexus.
University Place deputies alerted Fircrest police about a car stolen during an armed robbery traveling through their jurisdiction. A motorist flagged down a responding Fircrest sergeant and pointed him toward the Lexus, which blew through a red light shortly thereafter.
The Fircrest sergeant wrote in police reports that he didn't have enough evidence of a violent felony to pursue the Lexus under state law and deactivated his emergency lights.
Just down the road, the stolen Lexus rear-ended a Honda and knocked a motorcyclist off his bike as it sped through Central Tacoma, then Salave'a tried to flee on foot. A group of motorcyclists followed him from the scene and demanded he ride back on one of their bikes.
The motorcyclists brought Salave'a to the Fircrest sergeant as he was talking to other witnesses of the collisions. They told the sergeant that Salave'a was the driver who hit their friend.
The Fircrest sergeant, John Villamor, wrote he handcuffed Salave'a because of the seriousness of the armed robbery case.
University Place deputies wrote they didn't have probable cause to arrest Salave'a for the armed robbery because Gibbs didn't cooperate.
Police had Salave'a in custody for about an hour while officers interviewed witnesses at the hit-and-run scene. Salave'a refused to answer questions from Tacoma police. Washington State Patrol troopers and University Place deputies also responded.
The Fircrest sergeant wrote Salave'a nodded his head when he asked if he was the driver of the car. He said Salave'a didn't appear intoxicated and thought his mumbling to himself might have been due to a language barrier.
University Place deputies also detained a third man suspected of being present at the armed robbery and riding in the stolen Lexus with Salave'a. He told investigators the Lexus struck two vehicles and he had just met the driver, Salave'a, for the first time.
The Fircrest sergeant gave Salave'a a courtesy ride to a Central Tacoma 7-Eleven around 9:20 p.m. at his request.
Just shy of an hour later and about 4 miles away, Kimbrough died from a bullet to the head in his Eastside Tacoma home — the same address Gibbs had relayed to police.
'What's taking the police so long?'
About 15 minutes before the Fircrest sergeant dropped off Salave'a, Gibbs confirmed with dispatchers that he was back at home to talk with deputies.
A University Place deputy at the crash scene said it would be a while before he could get there.
About 40 minutes later, Gibbs called 911 again. He was mad.
"What's taking the police taking so long to come over?" Gibbs asked. "It's been an hour and they still haven't gotten here."
Gibbs was short with the dispatcher when she asked for information. The dispatcher was harsh in return when he didn't fully answer. Then Gibbs asked to speak to a supervisor.
South Sound 911, the regional emergency dispatch agency, told The News Tribune in late June that it had no record of any dispatchers who were reprimanded or counseled in connection to calls with Gibbs.
"Jamie, give me your phone number or I'm going to let you go," the dispatcher said about giving his number, which was already in their system, to a supervisor.
"Oh, I'm gonna let you go. I'm going to write the attorney general, I'm gonna," Gibbs said before the dispatcher cut him off and hung up on him.
Shortly after that, University Place deputies arrived at Gibbs' house to interview him.
The bulk of the description he gave to police was what he'd told dispatchers over the phone, according to police reports and 911 recordings.
A deputy also reviewed a video Gibbs recorded of Salave'a at his house, but it wasn't possible to see who was in the Lexus.
As the deputies left the scene, they learned Kimbrough was shot in the head at the address Gibbs followed him to.
A witness described how Salave'a arrived at the house about an hour after Kimbrough with a gun at his side. The people who lived there told police he frequently had a gun and used drugs.
Salave'a acted like Kimbrough was indebted to him and recently asked if Kimbrough "handled his business right," according to police reports.
Just before the sound of the gunshot, witnesses said they heard Salave'a demand the keys to a car and ask, "Who wears the pants in this house?"
Kimbrough died at the scene about 15 minutes after the initial 911 call.
Gibbs told The News Tribune he was frustrated the police didn't arrest Salave'a at the hit-and-run scene and said he told deputies in interviews that he had never been robbed before, so chasing after the suspects felt like the best thing to do.
"He could have come back over here and killed us," Gibbs told The News Tribune. He later started to break down into tears, adding, "It could have been my family. To this day I'm scared around my house."
No probable cause?
Graham, the former prosecutor, described the police narrative of the incidents surrounding Salave'a and their decision not to arrest him as "a little bit of a head-scratcher."
"Normally, I think you would see somebody arrested when you have multiple hit-and-runs and you see someone is on a crime spree," he said.
It is unclear why officers chose not to arrest Salave'a for hit-and-run, which it appeared they had "rock solid probable cause for," according to Graham.
Both Fircrest and Tacoma police say University Place deputies contracted through the Pierce County Sheriff's Department were the lead investigators at the scene.
"I wouldn't say there was anyone in particular that was in charge of it," Pierce County Sheriff's spokesperson Deputy Carly Cappetto told The News Tribune.
Cappetto said University Place deputies handled the bulk of the investigation.
Although a Fircrest officer attempted a traffic stop on Salave'a and detained him after he crashed, Fircrest Sgt. Victor Celis said the officer turned the collision scene over to University Place deputies as a part of their larger investigation.
Tacoma police spokesperson Wendy Haddow also said University Place deputies took the lead on the hit-and-run investigation despite the collision occurring in Tacoma city limits. She said Tacoma officers responded to assist and could not identify any reports they submitted.
Cappetto said Pierce County Jail COVID-19 protocols against jailing misdemeanor hit-and-run suspects may have prevented deputies from trying to book him. But records do not indicate they asked for an exception to the guidelines.
"Any deputy can always call booking and always ask," said Cappetto, who added that she typically notes those calls in her reports. "Every deputy out here, we know what the booking restrictions are."
The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office might still charge Salave'a with hit-and-run, according to a spokesperson. The prosecutor's office declined to comment further about the charges against Salave'a while his case is pending.
Salave'a told Tacoma police after his arrest for murder that police took his ID and gave him a citation and case number at the crash scene. He didn't say and records don't reflect which agency did so. There are no active misdemeanor cases in his name.
As far as the armed robbery, Graham said police could have potentially developed probable cause to arrest him under the so-called fellow officer rule. That doctrine allows police across jurisdictions and even dispatchers to accumulate evidence for a felony arrest.
Cappetto said she wasn't familiar with the rule and that the armed robbery victim never gave dispatchers a description of the suspects.
"Many times when vehicles are stolen multiple suspects can be involved," Cappetto said. "It's not easy to say when the car is recovered that the driver is also the same person who stole it."
Recordings show dispatchers only asked the victim for descriptions of the cars and handgun.
Dispatch records do not show any attempts by deputies to call the victim before releasing Salave'a.
Salave'a arrested
Investigators started surveilling Salavea's known addresses and tracked him to a Hilltop home four days after the killing. A SWAT team arrested him and officers searched the home.
Police thought he may have been under the influence of narcotics because he wasn't making much sense, according to charging documents. Investigators noted similar behavior at the earlier crash scene in Tacoma.
Salave'a showed no emotion after investigators told him Kimbrough, who he'd described as his brother, was dead.
Detectives eventually gave up on getting Salave'a to cooperate with the murder investigation and put him in a patrol car to go to jail.
That's when he revealed he thought Kimbrough molested his daughter.
"I asked him if he did it and he said 'no'," Salave'a said twice, nodding his head up and down.
