Woman opens fire on fleeing carjacker in Spanaway

A woman was carjacked and her girlfriend was shot in the backseat after they said they tried to sell some pot to a suspect in Spanaway.

SPANAWAY, Wash. - A woman was carjacked and her girlfriend was shot in the backseat after they said they tried to sell some pot to a suspect in Spanaway.

Body camera video captured some of the rescue efforts to save her girlfriend, who escaped with serious injuries following the shooting.

It happened near the Life Center Rainier Campus on Sunday at around 5:14 pm.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, one of the victims fought back, firing several rounds into her own car as the man drove away in it after stealing it.

"I told my husband I said get it away from the back of the house because it was like right here," said neighbor Mrs. McPhail, who lives across the street from the shooting.

"There was a young man sitting there looking at his phone and a couple of minutes later I heard a couple of gunshots," said Darin McPhail.

The McPhail’s were home at the time that shots rang out near the intersection of 177th St. Court East and 28th Ave. East.

Darin McPhail says that he saw the suspect sitting on a retaining wall minutes beforehand.

"I noticed that the gentleman that was sitting across from us was in the driver’s seat all of a sudden. The girl that was in the driver’s seat started shooting at him, at the car, as he drove away and she shot six times, shot the window out," said Darin McPhail.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said that the driver claims the man pistol whipped her and pushed her out of the car, and then shot her girlfriend, who was sitting in the backseat. The woman who was shot was somehow able to get out of the car and run for help at a nearby house. Her rescue was caught on video.

"A caller said a woman had shown up and been shot a couple of times, the deputies arrived and gave first aid. They placed a tourniquet on the woman, as well as applying pressure to her wounds. They were able to get her over to the ambulance and off to the hospital, said Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Darren Moss.

"There were eight shots altogether, was what I counted," said Darin McPhail.

Darin McPhail said the man who took off in the women’s car had on a white shirt, a gold chain and shoulder-length hair.

He vanished after speeding away with the victim’s vehicle.

"I just hope he turns himself in because that’s scary, that’s scary he could fire in daylight," said Mrs. McPhail.

"I just I’m surprised he didn’t get shot the way she shot six bullets right into the door and the window," said Darin McPhail.

The suspect was still on the loose as of Monday night. If you have any information on who he may be, or where the stolen car might be, contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.