| Tacoma Mall shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Tacoma, Washington, United States |
| Date | November 20, 2005 |
| Target | Tacoma Mall |
| Attack type | Spree shooting |
| Weapon(s) | semi-automatic rifle, semi-automatic pistol |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 6 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Dominick Sergio Maldonado |
The Tacoma Mall shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on November 20, 2005 at the Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The gunman, Dominick Maldonado, entered the mall with a semi-automatic Norinco MAK-90 rifle and a pistol, injuring six before he instigated four armed kidnappings.
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During the course of the shooting, Brandon (Dan) McKown, a legally armed citizen, intervened. McKown drew his 9mm CZ pistol and verbally commanded Maldonado to put down his gun. Maldonado's response was to fire on McKown, striking him once in the leg and four times in the torso, damaging McKown's spine and leaving him paralyzed. In addition to McKown, five other people were shot but not seriously injured, and a seventh person received a non-gunshot injury. At least one other person in the mall at the time also pulled a gun on Maldonado but did not fire for fear of hitting innocent bystanders.[1]
Maldonado then took four people hostage in a Sam Goody store, including two employees, a customer, and a 12-year-old boy whom he only briefly held captive before releasing. The attack began shortly after noon, and the hostage situation lasted until four p.m. when Maldonado surrendered to a Tacoma police SWAT team without further incident.[2]
Hostages taken during the incident chronicle their story on Biography Channel's I Survived....
The perpetrator in the shootings was 20-year-old Dominick Sergio Maldonado, who had an extensive juvenile criminal record including burglary, theft, and possession of burglary tools. He had also been given a court order not to possess any weapons. At the time of the shooting, Maldonado had recently separated from his girlfriend, and had been taking methamphetamine for five days.[3]
Maldonado was charged with eight counts of first-degree assault, four counts of first-degree kidnapping, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. Maldonado pleaded not guilty to the charges and has since been through five different lawyers and three defense teams.[4][5]
Maldonado was convicted on October 2, 2007[6] and sentenced to 163 years in prison on November 2.[7][8][9] He unsuccessfully attempted to escape from the Clallam Bay Corrections Center on June 29, 2011.[10]During the escape attempt 25-year-old Dominick Maldonado took a corrections officer hostage using a pair of scissors. Kevin Newland, a second inmate, was shot and killed by a guard after driving a forklift through a set of doors and crashing it into a perimeter fence. [11]