Video: Pierce County political candidate fires handgun at suspected car thief in homeless encampment

Josh Harris, a candidate for the Pierce City Council, shot at a suspected car thief in a homeless encampment in May while in search of a suspected stolen vehicle.

Pierce County Council candidate defends decision to fire gun at suspected car thief

Tacoma Police Department officers were within earshot, and newly released body camera footage of the incident shows officers running to the scene of the shooting, where they witnessed the suspected car thief, Scott R. Stacy, driving a vehicle erratically while fleeing the scene.

On the day of the incident, Josh Harris set out in search of what he described as a stolen vehicle at a homeless encampment, where he soon summoned police. The incident led to the suspected car thief allegedly trying to get away by driving toward Harris, and Harris firing a handgun at the car and its fleeing driver.

“He came barreling around the corner up the hill at me and I had nowhere to go. And he was probably going at 40-plus miles an hour,” Harris said on the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “I drew my firearm and he continued coming at me, so I fired on him. He hit the eco-block and then he continued to try and go forward on me, so I fired again. He then put it in reverse.”

“As the officers were coming up the hill, I raised my firearm to let him know I wasn’t firing anymore,” Harris continued. “They back down on the officers, which the officers had the right to defend themselves, but are so afraid to do so with the current climate and legislation that we got floating around in this state. I thought one [officer] was going to get hit.”

Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office launched an independent investigation, from which the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett declined to file charges against Harris.

Aspiring Pierce County official who shot at suspected thief faces no charges

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