By Lt. Chris Lawler, Lakewood Police
On June 18, 2013 at approximately 11:32 PM, Lakewood Police Officers were searching for a subject that had an outstanding felony arrest warrant for Theft. The suspect they were looking for was 28 year old Patrick O’Meara and was known to law enforcement and had a criminal record. Officers received information that O’Meara was in a residence located at the 14900 block of Washington Avenue Southwest in Tillicum/Lakewood.
Officers approached the residence and knocked on the door, announcing that they were the “Police”. Other officers were standing at the side of the residence at a window and spotted O’Meara inside, armed with a firearm. Despite repeated attempts to order O’Meara to drop the weapon, he refused and forced officers to fire their weapons.
Lakewood Officers made entry into the residence and found O’Meara suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers on scene performed CPR until medics arrived, but he was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Two Lakewood Officers fired their duty weapons. One of the officers who fired is a 30 year old male that has been with Lakewood PD since 09-24-12 and has a little over 8 ½ years of law enforcement experience. The other officer that fired is a 36 year old male who has been with Lakewood PD since 10-04-04 and has just under 13 years of law enforcement experience. Both officers are on paid administrative leave per department policy.
LPD Major Crimes detectives and the Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit are investigating the shooting, along with an investigator from the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. A picture of the weapon that O’Meara was armed with is attached to this release. The weapon turned out to be a very realistic looking metal cap gun.
David Anderson says
We’re looking now at a close-up of a cap pistol that does indeed look quite realistic. But it’s a photograph that gives us plenty of cup-of-coffee time to look it over. The picture is offered as evidence – support – for why the police took the action they did. A man is dead. It was quite likely the officers had but fleeting views of the cap pistol – held in the suspect’s hand at that – obviously not then put on full display as here. Other than repeated commands to put the weapon down – which certainly should have been obeyed – are there no other protocols for dealing with such a situation?