Newly released body camera footage showed a police officer in Tacoma, Washington calmly arriving at an active shootout and stepping out of his police SUV before taking a single 183-yard shot to stop the shooting suspect.
The video showed the officer, identified by investigators as Tacoma Police Department Officer Christopher Munn, pulling up to the scene of a shootout with music playing and a cup of coffee in his hand. Munn could be seen placing his coffee on the dashboard and stepping out of his police vehicle, in no particular rush as sirens blared and shots rang out.
Munn then walked to the back of his vehicle, opened his trunk and took an AR-15-style rifle out of a duffel bag, before taking up a firing position. Over his radio, another officer is heard saying the suspect was reloading. It was at this moment that Munn fired a single shot.
“X-Ray 316, shot fired,” Munn said over his radio. “Suspect’s down.”
The body camera footage was released as part of the Pierce County Force Investigation Team’s review of an Tacoma Police Department officers’ actions during an Aug. 28 active shooter incident.
Tacoma Police officers were responding to a report of a physical domestic assault. After arriving at the scene, police spoke with an assault victim, and established probable cause to arrest a suspect since identified as Peter Tyler Collins.
Collins refused to speak with police and a standoff began around Collins’ home. Collins eventually began firing at officers at around 2:46 p.m. local time. After Collins an initial exchange of gunfire, Collins fled the area on foot, armed with two semi-automatic rifles, two handguns, and what investigators described as “a large amount of ammunition.”
Collins reportedly tried to enter someone else’s home and demanded to take their car, but was stopped by the homeowner.
At around 3 p.m., Munn arrived on the scene. As the Pierce County Force Investigation Team described it:
At 3:00 pm, Officer Munn arrives in the 6600 block of South Madison facing south. Mr. Collins fires several high velocity rounds toward Officer Munn who was exiting his vehicle. Officer Munn takes a position behind his vehicle and fires a single round from his patrol rifle from 183 yards striking Mr. Collins.
After Munn fired the 183-yard shot, he and other officers moved up to secure the scene. Police and fire personnel attempted life-saving efforts.
Investigators determined Collins fired 15 shots throughout the approximately 16-minute shootout, including 12 .223 caliber rounds and three .30 caliber rounds. Police fired nine shots in return.
“Mr. Collins sustained two gunshot wounds, one consistent with a shot fired by officers and one consistent with a self-inflicted shot,” investigators say.
A Pierce County Medical Examiner’s report listed a “Rifle wound of the chest” as Collins’ cause of death.
