Tacoma, Washington

From the Tacoma News-Tribune of June 19, 2005

Argument ends in fatal shooting

A 22-year-old man who had been arguing with his girlfriend was shot and killed early Saturday after another man overheard the argument and tried to break it up, police said.

It happened about 2:40 a.m. at an apartment in the 4300 block of South Union Avenue in Tacoma, said police spokesman Mark Fulghum.

Richard Matthews, who recently moved into his girlfriend’s apartment, pulled a gun on the man who tried to intervene, Fulghum said.

But the would-be peacekeeper, identified by police only as an approximately 30-year-old Tacoma man, also was carrying a gun.

He fired “numerous” shots at Matthews before Matthews could get off a shot, Fulghum said.

Matthews was pronounced dead at the scene, Fulghum said.

No other injuries were reported.

Police officers who happened to be nearby heard the gunfire and arrived soon after the shooting, Fulghum said.

The shooter was cooperative with officers, Fulghum said. Detectives interviewed him and let him go. It will be up to prosecutors to decide whether to charge him with a crime.

Based on what police saw, “This guy just had a quicker draw,” Fulghum said. “The prosecutor will make the decision, but it looks like he didn’t have much choice.”