Brawl At Restaurant Ends In Hail Of Bullets

A brawl outside a restaurant in this Tacoma suburb ended in a volley of gunfire that left a man dead, residents afraid and detectives puzzled.

Germaine “Sneak” Davis, 22, of Tacoma was killed early Saturday after he was shot in the head outside the Raintree Restaurant & Lounge, said Pierce County sheriff’s Lt. Thomas Miner.

Nobody else was reported injured although at least 20 bullet casings were found, and bullets peppered surrounding cars, buildings and trees, Miner said.

“People just started popping off rounds,” he said. “The number of rounds that were fired was phenomenal. They were ridiculous. They hit numerous cars. They hit buildings. How we didn’t have someone else that was injured was amazing.”

Although shots were fired from the area in the parking lot where police found Davis, there was no gun found on him, Miner said.

A man in his early 20s was been booked into the County Jail for investigation of second-degree murder, but detectives could not immediately determine the motive or circumstances behind Davis’ death. Gang activity has not been ruled out, Miner said.

“There’s lots of ‘don’t knows’ out there,” he said. “It’s one that was pretty chaotic.”

The fight began in a crowd of people around 2 a.m. as the bar was closing, Miner said.

Raintree employees said they heard the shooting, and they and remaining customers ducked or scrambled behind the bar.

John Vukas, owner of the Raintree, said the night had been uneventful except for a small altercation outside that was unrelated to the shooting.

“There was no argument in the lounge,” he said. “There was nothing that carried outside. We don’t even know if (Davis) was a customer.”

A neighbor, Juanita Marrs, heard someone yelling obscenities just before the gunfire broke out. Fearing for her 13- and 16-year-old daughters, she told them to stay down.

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