‘I was shot.’ Local college student describes Pierce County mass shooting

Jazmine Chavez was just about to leave a crowded house party in the middle of a Spanaway neighborhood. As she waited with her friends to get the keys to one of their cars, bullets began flying and partygoers started running, including Chavez.

Hector Gonzalez Valdez, 19, and Joaquin Ramirez, 15, were shot and killed the night of March 29 near the 17800 block of 25th Avenue Court. Chavez, 18 and a student at a Puget Sound-area college, was one of the four people injured from the bullets that flew down the street.

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, court records show. A Pierce County Juvenile Court judge ordered his name not be released by the news media. The boy is being held at Remann Hall on a $1 million bail.

“I feel like all of us are suffering from PTSD from that night, and it’s just been a lot of anxiety and bad dreams and just bad thoughts that are very intrusive,” Chavez told the News Tribune in an interview on Tuesday.

The party was meant to celebrate the birthday of a girl who lived at the home, Chavez said. The event was advertised “quite a bit” on Instagram and through group chats, Chavez said.

Chavez and her friends were at the house for about an hour and a half before the shooting started. Just before, there was a fight inside the home. She said the people in the group that started the shooting were upset because one of their girlfriends was pushed.

“After the fight continued and whatnot, I was trying to find my best friend, but also be aware of my surroundings as well,” Chavez said. “The house owner ended up kicking everybody out.”

Once Chavez found her friend, they went through to the front of the house. She said that her best friend left her key and purse in the car of the birthday girl. As they waited to get the keys, shots rang out as Chavez was trying to get back into the house. One of the bullets struck Chavez in the pelvis .

“After I got shot, I was trying to let my friends know I got shot,” she said. “I was just frozen, especially once I saw the blood coming out of me.”

She said her stomach felt tight, and she began to cramp. A girl helped Chavez, and she was carried to the back of the house.

“All of these people were surrounding me, covering me and they were just like, ‘She is shot,’ ” Chavez said.

Not long after, Pierce County deputies arrived and said Chavez needed to lie down. Chavez said deputies put her down next to one of the boys who had died.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman deputy Carly Cappetto said in a statement that Chavez was not placed anywhere next to the boy, according to body-camera footage. He was only seen nearby at a distance, she said.

“And then all I see is a girl come and she’s crying and screaming, and I’m just scared, like, this is going to be me. This is going to be what’s next for me,” Chavez said.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office response

Shots were fired at about 12:24 a.m., but neighbors placed multiple 911 calls at about 10:46 p.m. to report there were several teenagers walking about. Two deputies were dispatched at 11:45 p.m. but were diverted to another call, according to charging documents. Deputies again were dispatched when it was reported that teens were fighting in the street.

Chavez criticized the deputies’ response, saying they showed no urgency when they arrived and initially did not believe she had been shot.

“They said they can get a tampon for me because I believe they possibly heard other people saying, ‘Oh, she’s just on her period, like she’s just overreacting,’ ” she said. “I wasn’t crying or screaming. I was just saying, ‘I was shot,’ and my stomach felt very compacted.”

Chavez said that eventually the deputies confirmed that she was shot and she was soon taken into an ambulance.

Cappetto disputed Chavez’s comments , saying that when deputies first saw the 18-year-old being carried out of the house by four girls, they immediately tended to her. Cappetto said she and department administration reviewed the body-camera footage after they first heard of Chavez’s claims.

“In the body cam, the first deputy is seen tending to her injuries as she is being carried out of a home by four other girls. The deputy acknowledges the girl has been shot and immediately begins triaging her as such, along with several others claiming to be shot,” she said. “He advises the girls carrying her to place her by the road since ambulances are on their way and she was categorized as a red patient and would be first to be transported.”

Cappetto said in the footage, none of the deputies mentioned that she might have been on her period. They also did not deny she had been shot.

“She is treated professionally and appropriately as a gunshot-wound victim the entire time. She was even prioritized over all the other gunshot victims,” she said.

Cappetto said she could not say what happened once Chavez was loaded into an ambulance with fire personnel as there were no deputies inside the vehicle.

“ I do know from my life-saving training and experience that tampons are an extremely valuable resource for stopping blood for gunshot patients if other resources are not available,” she said.

Cappetto said she hopes that Chavez could “find healing and closure with her feelings and statement by submitting a records request and reviewing the body-cam footage herself.”

Chavez said she has been trying to get the police report and the footage but has yet to receive them.

“I just want to be able to show my story, and to prove that I know my story as well,” she said.

Gunshot victim living ‘day by day’

Chavez said she was taken to Tacoma General Hospital where she underwent three surgeries. She was in Tacoma General for about a week and then transported to another hospital for another week. Chavez returned home just a few days ago, she said.

“As of right now, I’m trying to do it day by day. I want to get done at school as soon as possible,” she said.

Chavez said she has not been able to attend school in-person and cannot fully walk without her walker.

“I want to work with children, eventually become a therapist,” she said. “I’m hoping to get my doctorate’s degree and become a psychiatrist and just help kids who’ve been through a lot as well, especially children of color.”