Tacoma Police Investigate Fatal Shooting

Callers to 911 reported gunshots about 2:40 a.m. Sunday, and soon afterward a woman flagged down an off-duty police officer and told him a body was lying in Court D South just east of Fawcett Avenue, Detective Christopher B. Taylor said.

The officer found a dead woman 30 to 40 years old who had been shot at least once in the head, Taylor said.

He would not disclose what evidence was found at the scene but said no witnesses had been found, nor had investigators determined who might be responsible.

"There's not much to go on right now," Taylor said

Rick Kimes, 42, who lives nearby, said he heard gunshots, followed by the sound of two cars leaving the area.

Kathy Newman, 60, one of the callers to 911 following the shooting, said the litter-strewn alley where dead woman was found is frequented by prostitutes who perform sex acts during the middle of the day.

She and Kimes said problems in the area stem largely from squatters at Fawcett House, a nearby apartment building that was closed for code violations and boarded up last month.

"From the day they boarded it up, they've been coming through the windows," Kimes said.

"The Fawcett House needs to be torn down," Newman said. "It needs to go."

Taylor said he did not know what investigators found when they searched the building.