TACOMA, WA – A man who was paralyzed in a shooting last summer has filed suit against the city of Tacoma, alleging police acted “negligently” during an interaction days before the shooting when inadvertently returning the gun to the shooter who was suspected of a separate shooting.
Back on June 23, 2022, local restaurateur Jay Barbour was in his car on the way to one of his eateries while hauling some supplies. Apparently, Barbour was driving a bit on the slower side so as not to cause any potential damage to the supplies he was hauling.
Another driver, identified as Mason Taylor, reportedly became aggravated at Barbour’s slow driving, and pulled his vehicle up to the victim and a confrontation ensued. After an exchange of words, Taylor opened fire on Barbour, shooting the victim twice.
At the time of the incident, Barbour thought he was going to die, but he ultimately survived – although, the shooting severed his spine and left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Taylor was subsequently convicted of first-degree assault with a firearm and sentenced to 11 years in prison, but upon learning about a police interaction Taylor had days before the shooting, Barbour opted to file a lawsuit against the city this September, claiming police acted negligently with respect to a firearm returned to Taylor.
According to the suit filed on September 7, Tacoma Police were investigating a shooting on June 18, 2022, where Taylor was allegedly the suspect believed to have pulled the trigger. During the police interaction, Taylor reportedly denied shooting the victim at the party and claimed the gun recovered at the scene belonged to his older brother.
Per the lawsuit filed, one of the officers allegedly bought the story rendered by Taylor and left the gun behind at the scene with Taylor along with instructions to have his brother pick the weapon up, a claim supported by the original police report.
The June 18, 2022, police report from the Tacoma officer read, “I would place the gun on the curb of M Street. Then, I instructed them to pick up the gun after we left, meaning his brother would pick it up thinking the gun would be on the curb until his brother showed up to pick it up.”
As fate would have it, that same gun left by Tacoma officers at the scene would be used by Taylor to paralyze Barbour, as well as ballistics evidence uncovering the weapon had been used in a separate May 2022 shooting.
Attorney Mark Lindquist, who is representing Barbour in the filed suit, said of the initial police interaction with Taylor, “Giving a gun back to a criminal suspect in a shooting is beyond negligent. It’s beyond reckless. It’s crazy.”
The attorney representing the victim also lambasted the officers involved in the June 2022 interaction with Taylor even further, noting that Taylor was 20 years old at the time and, “under Washington law, you can’t possess a handgun when you’re under 21 unless under very limited circumstances.”
The city of Tacoma issued a statement in response to the claim filed by Barbour, reading, “Our thoughts are with Jay Barbour and his family during this difficult time. We are currently reviewing this claim to determine appropriate next steps.”
Back on June 23, 2022, local restaurateur Jay Barbour was in his car on the way to one of his eateries while hauling some supplies. Apparently, Barbour was driving a bit on the slower side so as not to cause any potential damage to the supplies he was hauling.
Another driver, identified as Mason Taylor, reportedly became aggravated at Barbour’s slow driving, and pulled his vehicle up to the victim and a confrontation ensued. After an exchange of words, Taylor opened fire on Barbour, shooting the victim twice.
At the time of the incident, Barbour thought he was going to die, but he ultimately survived – although, the shooting severed his spine and left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Taylor was subsequently convicted of first-degree assault with a firearm and sentenced to 11 years in prison, but upon learning about a police interaction Taylor had days before the shooting, Barbour opted to file a lawsuit against the city this September, claiming police acted negligently with respect to a firearm returned to Taylor.
According to the suit filed on September 7, Tacoma Police were investigating a shooting on June 18, 2022, where Taylor was allegedly the suspect believed to have pulled the trigger. During the police interaction, Taylor reportedly denied shooting the victim at the party and claimed the gun recovered at the scene belonged to his older brother.
Per the lawsuit filed, one of the officers allegedly bought the story rendered by Taylor and left the gun behind at the scene with Taylor along with instructions to have his brother pick the weapon up, a claim supported by the original police report.
The June 18, 2022, police report from the Tacoma officer read, “I would place the gun on the curb of M Street. Then, I instructed them to pick up the gun after we left, meaning his brother would pick it up thinking the gun would be on the curb until his brother showed up to pick it up.”
As fate would have it, that same gun left by Tacoma officers at the scene would be used by Taylor to paralyze Barbour, as well as ballistics evidence uncovering the weapon had been used in a separate May 2022 shooting.
Attorney Mark Lindquist, who is representing Barbour in the filed suit, said of the initial police interaction with Taylor, “Giving a gun back to a criminal suspect in a shooting is beyond negligent. It’s beyond reckless. It’s crazy.”
The attorney representing the victim also lambasted the officers involved in the June 2022 interaction with Taylor even further, noting that Taylor was 20 years old at the time and, “under Washington law, you can’t possess a handgun when you’re under 21 unless under very limited circumstances.”
The city of Tacoma issued a statement in response to the claim filed by Barbour, reading, “Our thoughts are with Jay Barbour and his family during this difficult time. We are currently reviewing this claim to determine appropriate next steps.”
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Comments
2023-09-12T04:12-0400 | Comment by: Donna
Wow! Tacoma going to lose big time on this lawsuit.