TACOMA, Wash. — A man accused of killing one and injuring another in a shooting at a Tacoma emergency room was apparently a stranger to both victims, according to newly obtained court documents.
The shooting happened on Aug. 6 around 7 p.m. inside the MultiCare Allenmore Hospital on South Union Ave.
According to court documents, the couple arrived at the emergency room because one of them was experiencing elbow pain.
When they checked in and sat in the waiting room, the surviving shooting victim said a man approached the pair and asked her boyfriend what he was staring at, docs said.
The man replied he wasn’t staring, and the suspect asked him if he knew who he was. The victim said he did not, court documents said.
According to court documents, the suspect said something along the lines of “it’s about to get switchy in here” before he started firing.
Prosecutors say “switchy” likely refers to converting a semi-automatic handgun to a fully-automatic handgun.
Both the man and the woman were shot. The man died at the scene and the woman was grazed by a bullet.
The suspect, later identified as 25-year-old Martrice Ryan, ran away from the hospital.
The surviving victim later told police that nothing happened during their drive to the hospital to indicate that they had been followed.
Ryan was arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail on Aug. 10. He has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree assault.
Prosecutors asked that he be held on no bail.
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