A woman who had her car stolen Thursday lured the thief to a rendezvous in order to get it back Friday but all she got in return was a gunshot wound, Tacoma police said.
The chain of events began when the victim posted an online ad in an attempt to sell her car. When the suspect showed up to look the vehicle over, he took off in it and didn't return.
On Friday, the woman, pretending to be someone else and looking to purchase merchandise, made contact with the thief. She asked to meet him in a Tacoma Mall parking lot.
"And he shows up in the vehicle hoping to sell the merchandise to somebody else," said Tacoma Police spokesperson Det. William Muse.
The victim had brought associates to the meet-up and a fight broke out. That's when the male suspect's female accomplice armed herself with a gun and shot the victim.
Tacoma Police received reports of the fight and gunshot at 2:28 p.m. Friday, Muse said.
"When officers arrived they found an adult female suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound in the pelvic area," Muse said. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Both suspects fled the scene in the stolen vehicle, Muse said, and remain at large.
In March, the mall's parking lot was the scene of another attempt to recover stolen property and subsequent gunfire when ex-NBA star Shawn Kemp shot at a man who had allegedly stolen Kemp's cell phone in Seattle.
