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Tacoma: Woman ordered held in shooting investigation

April 6th, 2009, incident report by jbtaylor

  • March 31, 2009
  • 1
  • 1
  • East 26 and R Sts.
  • Tacoma

STACEY MULICK, ADAM LYNN. The News Tribune. Tacoma, Wash.: Apr 4, 2009. pg. B.2

Copyright 2009 The News Tribune All Rights Reserved.

A 24-year-old woman was being held Friday in the Pierce County Jail without charges while police investigate her role in a deadly shooting that occurred inside a Tacoma apartment where two children were sleeping.

Michelle Delena Deda made a preliminary appearance in Superior Court on Friday. Judge Linda Lee ordered her jailed in lieu of $1 million bail until Tuesday when she must either be charged with a crime or released.

A 29-year-old woman died and her 23-year-old boyfriend was seriously wounded in the shooting. The couple, whose names have not been released, were found just after 4 a.m. Tuesday in a four-plex at East 26th and R streets in the newly redeveloped Salishan housing area.

The children weren't hurt.

Police identified Deda as a possible person of interest and issued a bulletin to other law enforcement agencies saying they were looking for her, police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. A sheriff's deputy spotted Deda on Thursday and arrested her, Fulghum said.

Police booked her into jail on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree assault. She also had warrants out for her arrest in two unrelated cases.

Detectives continued to search Friday for three other people - all men - who were in the apartment during the shooting.

According to court documents, Deda, the victims and at least five others spent the hours before the shooting doing drugs together at the apartment.

At one point, Deda and three men left, the documents state. Shortly thereafter, the man and the woman who live in the apartment with their two children left to walk to a convenience store, leaving their kids and the victims behind, according to the records. The victims had been staying at the apartment temporarily.

When the couple who live in the apartment returned, they found the victims shot.

The survivor originally told police "Michelle D" shot him, the court records state. He later said one of the men who left with Deda shot him.

The man who lives in the apartment told police there had been an argument between the male victim and one of the men who left with Deda. He also reported seeing at least one of the men with Deda carrying a handgun, the court documents indicate.

Michelle Lamoureux was friends with the woman who died. She said her friend was to start drug treatment soon and was looking forward to living a clean and healthy life with her boyfriend and their 6-month-old son.

Lamoureux took the woman to her scheduled visits with her son, who is in state custody. Each time, the mother took pictures and video clips of her infant boy.

"She loved him so much," Lamoureux said.