Ash Street shootout

Last updated

Ash Street shootout
DateSeptember 23, 1989
Location
Hilltop, Tacoma, Washington, United States of America
Caused byTensions over drug crime
Resulted in
Parties
Members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion (off-duty)
Alleged drug dealers [lower-alpha 1]
Lead figures

Bill Foulk

None proven in court

Ray Fjetland

Number
About 12 [# 1]
15 to 20
At least 12
Casualties and losses
Some guns confiscated

2 arrested

Per police: 0 injured

Per Foulk: 1 or more injured
None

The Ash Street shootout was a gunfight on September 23, 1989, in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington, United States, between off-duty United States Army Rangers and people associated with one Ranger's across-the-street neighbors, who were suspected of drug dealing and gang activity. [lower-alpha 1] An already tense neighborhood situation, wherein Staff Sergeant Bill Foulk [lower-alpha 2] and others had been advocating for more police action against drug crime, came to a head during a barbecue at Foulk's home on Ash Street, attended by other community members and a few other members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion. [# 2] Both groups of belligerents claim that the other harassed them during the party. Foulk called for assistance from more Rangers, who arrived with privately owned firearms. Starting at 9:20 PM, 12 or so Rangers [# 1] and 15 to 20 people from across the street exchanged gunfire with handguns and long guns for five to thirty minutes [# 3] until police arrived. It is unclear which group fired first; both sides blamed the other. [lower-alpha 3] The conflict ended without reported injury after 100 to 300 rounds [# 4] were fired. Foulk initially affirmed this account, [1] but since 2009 has said that one or more people on the other side were shot but fled. [2] [3]

Contents

Two people suspected of shooting at the Rangers were arrested; one was convicted of second-degree assault. Some of the Rangers' guns were confiscated. The incident spurred the local community to organize more. The national attention that it drew influenced reform in the Tacoma Police Department—which previously had often not responded to crimes that officers did not personally witness—shifting them toward a model of community-oriented policing.

Background

In 1987, Bill Foulk, [lower-alpha 2] a staff sergeant in the 2nd Ranger Battalion based at Fort Lewis, moved to Ash Street in Hilltop, Tacoma, Washington, buying the worst home on the block for $10,000 (equivalent to $24,580in 2023) so that he could restore it. [7] At the time of the shootout he had been in the Army for 12 years. [4] Hilltop saw an uptick in gang violence and open drug use in 1989; [8] [7] when Foulk returned home from a deployment to Panama that summer, he and neighbors began to advocate for a greater police presence. The underfunded and understaffed Tacoma Police Department, however, moved officers away from Hilltop. [9] Relations were tense between community members and the police, in an era before community-oriented policing, and 9-1-1 calls were often met with no response, with officers responding only to crimes they witnessed. [10] Foulk, his wife, and some of his neighbors photographed alleged drug dealers. [8] [11] On September 21, 1989, an article in the local The News Tribune described the group as "on the verge of vigilante action" due to police inaction; [12] the story had the effect of slowing drug dealing in the area, which Foulk says angered gang members. [8]

The main drug house in the neighborhood was across the street from Foulk's. [13] [14] After the shooting, occupants of the house [lower-alpha 1] acknowledged drug activity outside of it but denied participating in drug deals. [6] This was contradicted by one of the tenants in 2009. [15]

Foulk installed a video camera in an upstairs window of his home, [lower-alpha 4] pointed at the house in question. [8] [6] After The News Tribune's article ran, he organized a barbecue on September 23 as a show of unity [8] and to discuss plans to reduce crime. [18] He invited a few [# 2] other Rangers and suggested that they come armed. [8]

Confrontation and gunfight

During the barbecue, people at the house across the street threw rocks and rotten pears at the upstairs video camera. Some made threatening gestures to those attending the party and one fired at Foulk's house with a BB gun. Foulk and some other Rangers crossed the street and confronted the other group. The latter refused to stop throwing things and shooting BBs, while Foulk refused to stop filming their activities. According to Foulk, they then threatened to kill him. [8] Some residents of the neighborhood, including occupants of the house across the street, presented a different narrative, in which the Rangers had taunted them and laughed at them. [11]

Returning to his home, Foulk called other Rangers for backup. The force of about twelve soldiers [# 1] drew up defensive plans [8] and Foulk erected a wooden barricade. [11] Foulk also called a journalist and photographer from The News Tribune, who came to the home. [8] Foulk carried a Browning Hi-Power and Colt .357. [19] [20] The other Rangers' weapons included an AR-15 rifle, an M14 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a number of handguns. All of the Rangers' weapons were personally owned, not military-issue. [11] The gunfight began at 9:20 PM, after sunset. [8] [7] It is unclear which side fired first; both claim it was the other. [lower-alpha 3] In the ensuing battle, people fired toward Foulk's house from behind parked cars and Rangers fired back as one partygoer (herself armed) called 9-1-1. [8] Shooting continued for 5 to 30 minutes [# 3] between the Rangers and 15 to 20 adversaries. [6] Police arrived on the scene and then briefly retreated when gunfire continued; ultimately at least a dozen arrived. [20]

Those who had been firing at the Rangers fled. Arriving police officers first detained everyone at the Foulk residence and sought to confiscate their guns as evidence. [11] [20] The officer tasked with disarming the Rangers, feeling that they had done nothing wrong, struck a deal in which they would hand over only their less valuable guns. [20] All weapons taken were owned lawfully. [11] The police then pursued those who had run away, partly based on descriptions given by the Rangers, [11] [20] and arrested two on outstanding warrants. [11] The first police officers to respond estimated 50 to 60 shots fired in less than a minute. [20] Estimates of the total number fired range from 100 to 300. [# 4] No one was reported injured at the time of the shooting. [23] Foulk said to 48 Hours in 1990 that he had told the Rangers to avoid hitting anyone, for fear of being sued. [1] Russ Carmack, The News Tribune's photographer at the scene, later said that he had heard a police commander lecture the Rangers for failing to hit anyone. [20] In 2009, Foulk said to The News Tribune that one Ranger had in fact winged someone who charged the house. [2] In 2022, he said to Fox 13 Seattle that the Rangers shot multiple people, who fled the scene rather than await emergency medical services. [3]

Aftermath

The Tacoma Police criticized the Rangers throughout the process—at the scene, to the press, and to the Rangers' superiors—for failing to request police intervention before the shooting started. [24] [25] Foulk responded that he did not think it would have helped, as officers would only respond to a crime in progress. [25] [26] Tensions continued the next day. The partygoer who had called 9-1-1 and a tenant of the house across the street fought publicly. An Associated Press photograph of the two women grappling ran in papers across the United States. [11] [27] Hand-to-hand fighting among supporters of both sets of belligerents continued for 27 minutes until the police, who had been busy answering other calls, arrived. [20] No one was seriously injured. [6] The woman from across the street and her fellow tenants were subsequently evicted by their landlord. [20]

The Rangers' commanders publicly supported their decision to engage, but criticized Foulk for calling other Rangers to the scene in the build-up to the shoot-out. [28] [29] Foulk says he was denied promotion as a result of the publicity caused by the shootout and that other Rangers were forbidden from visiting his home. [30] Foulk saw further action in Panama during its invasion by the United States; [31] he left the Army in 1993. [30]

Of the two people arrested, one was charged. He maintained to 48 Hours while awaiting trial that the Rangers had fired first, unprovoked, a claim that correspondent Bernard Goldberg found implausible. He said that he and the others had not been engaged in any criminal conduct, although he acknowledged that he had been smoking marijuana after Goldberg showed photographic evidence. The man's lawyer defended him to Goldberg as having been simply "the slowest runner". [32] The man was convicted of second-degree assault and sentenced to 22 months in prison. [30]

The shootout and the national attention it brought were an embarrassment for the Tacoma Police and accelerated the plans of its chief, Ray Fjetland, to move toward a model of community-oriented policing. Positions were re-filled on Hilltop's crime management team and community liaisons were established. The News Tribune, in a retrospective piece published 20 years after the event, framed it as a catalyst for policing improvements and an eventual decrease in crime on Ash Street. [30] The Tacoma Police established an office in Hilltop in 1990 to work on shutting down drug houses. Foulk's actions spurred the creation of more neighborhood block groups and more community reporting of crime, contributing to the condemnation of dozens of drug houses. [7] As of 2022, Foulk continues to live in the same house—with all bullet holes patched, except one left as a reminder. [33]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 While the police would later accuse those affiliated with the house of being members of the Crips, [6] most subsequent reporting has not described them as such, but has referred to them as actual or alleged drug dealers or gang members:
  2. 1 2 William Foulk [4] ( /foʊk/ FOHK [5] ); born 1956or1957(age 66–67). [6]
  3. 1 2 Bernard Goldberg of 48 Hours , in a segment on the shootout the following February, found the evidence inconclusive as to who shot first. [21] Lily Eng in The Seattle Times in 1998 likewise did not reach a conclusion. [22] Sean Robinson in The News Tribune in 2009, on the other hand, cites several witnesses, including News Tribune photographer Russ Carmack, to conclude that the first shots fired were in the direction of Foulk's house, coming from the west. [8]
  4. ↑ It is unclear when the camera was installed: A contemporaneous report by Anne Koch and Joanna Plank of The Seattle Times (as reprinted in The Philadelphia Inquirer ) implies that it had been up for months, [11] while Sean Robinson of The News Tribune in 2009 implies it was installed only a few days before the barbecue. [8] It is also unclear how its existence became known: The Associated Press said at the time that its existence had been reported in a news article prior to the barbecue, but does not say what news article. [16] Koch and Plank mention the camera and mention an increase in threats after a news article ran, but do not say if the news article mentioned the camera. Michael Gilbert's piece in The News Tribune two days before the shooting, referenced by Robinson in 2009, [8] does not mention the camera. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tacoma, Washington</span> City in Washington, United States

Tacoma is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Bellevue, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park, and 80 miles (130 km) east of Olympic National Park. The city's population was 219,346 at the time of the 2020 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third-most populous in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of about 1 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Hollywood shootout</span> 1997 bank robbery and subsequent shootout between bank robbers and police

The North Hollywood shootout, also known as the Battle of North Hollywood, was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and police officers in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997. Both robbers were killed, twelve police officers and eight civilians were injured, and numerous vehicles and other property were damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by the robbers and police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shootout</span> Combat between two parties using firearms

A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a combat situation between armed parties using guns. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to describe combat situations primarily using firearms.

The Almighty Saints is a street gang founded in the early 1960s by Polish youth at Davis Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago, but later was largely made up of Hispanics due to the change in the community's ethnic makeup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilltop, Tacoma, Washington</span> Neighborhood in Tacoma, Washington, United States

The Hilltop Neighborhood is a historically diverse neighborhood in the Tacoma, Washington Central District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Davis (born 1966)</span> American criminal from the Bronx, New York, United States

Larry Davis, later known as Adam Abdul-Hakeem, was a man from New York City who gained notoriety in November 1986 for his shootout in the South Bronx with officers of the New York City Police Department, in which six officers were shot. Davis, asserting self-defense, was acquitted of all charges aside from illegal gun possession. Davis was later convicted in April 1991 of a Bronx drug dealer's 1986 murder. In 2008, Davis died via stabbing by a fellow inmate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Kathryn Johnston</span> 2006 police killing

Kathryn Johnston was an elderly woman from Atlanta, Georgia who was killed by undercover police officers in her home on Neal Street in northwest Atlanta on November 21, 2006, where she had lived for 17 years. Three officers had entered her home in what was later described as a 'botched' drug raid. Officers cut off burglar bars and broke down her door using a no-knock warrant. Police said Johnston fired at them and they fired in response; she fired one shot out the door over the officers' heads and they fired 39 shots, five or six of which hit her. None of the officers were injured by her gunfire, but Johnston was killed by the officers. Police injuries were later attributed to friendly fire from each other's weapons.

The timeline of some of the most relevant events in the Mexican drug war is set out below. Although violence between drug cartels had been occurring for three decades, the Mexican government held a generally passive stance regarding cartel violence through the 1980s and early 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vagos Motorcycle Club</span> One percenter motorcycle club

The Vagos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Green Nation, is a one percenter motorcycle club formed in 1964 in San Bernardino, California. The club's insignia is Loki, the Norse god of mischief, riding a motorcycle. Members typically wear green.

In early 2009, a series of gang-related shootings occurred due to what police describe as a gang war in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Alleged participants include the Independent Soldiers, the Sanghera Crime Group, the Buttar Gang, the Bacon Brothers, the United Nations Gang, the Red Scorpions, and the Vancouver chapter of the Hells Angels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Lakewood shooting</span> 2009 murder of four Lakewood police officers in Parkland, Washington, USA

On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battleground Gunfight</span> 1901 gunfight in Arizona

The Battleground Gunfight, also known as the Battleground Shootout, was a gunfight between a posse of American lawmen and the Smith Gang. It was fought on October 8, 1901, within Arizona Territory's Fort Apache Indian Reservation, at a clearing in the forest known today as the "Battleground". Nine Arizona Rangers and deputies caught up with the cattle rustler Bill Smith and his gang. During a long exchange of gunfire that followed, Ranger Carlos Tafolla and Deputy Bill Maxwell were killed and one or two of the outlaws may have been wounded. In the end, the Smith Gang escaped the posse and fled into Mexico.

Menace of Destruction (MOD), formerly known as Masters of Destruction, is a Hmong street gang created in 1988. Today, it is active in California, Midwestern United States and many places with large Hmong communities. It is known for murders, fights, shootings, and weapon and drug trafficking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Waco shootout</span> Shootout that erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, US

On May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas, United States, a shootout erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant where more than 200 persons, including members from motorcycle clubs that included the Bandidos, Cossacks, and allies, had gathered for a meeting about political rights for motorcyclists. Law enforcement, which included 18 Waco Police Department officers and four Texas Highway Patrol troopers, had gathered to monitor the restaurant and meeting from outside, and, according to police, "returned fire after being shot at". Nine bikers were killed, 18 others wounded or injured, and 177 individuals were ultimately arrested and initially detained in connection with the shootout, most for alleged participation in organized crime. According to The New York Times, "the response by prosecutors was widely criticized as brazen overreach". According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, the shootout led to a "four-year prosecutorial fiasco that resulted in zero convictions."

The Lenox Street Boys also known as the "Lenox Street Cardinals" are one of the oldest and most dangerous street gangs in Boston, Massachusetts. The gang originated in the Lenox Street Projects in the Tremont section of Roxbury, Boston. The gang has been visible on Boston Police's radar since the mid-1980s as they terrorized local stores and civilians. They were also among the only gang to feud with New York–based drug gangs associated with drug lord Darryl Whiting.

The Byrd Gang also known as the Piff Gang, is a criminal organization located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Detectives with New Orleans Police Department's Multi-Agency Gang unit previously described the Byrd Gang as "one of the most murderous gangs in town." The gang has a long history of violence which has made them gain notoriety among other gangs in the city.

The 10th & Oregon Crew, or 10th & O Gang, is a predominantly Italian American gang and organized crime group operating in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Active since the 1960s, the gang is associated closely with but independent from the Italian-American Philadelphia crime family. It is primarily active in South Philadelphia and certain working-class Italian-American neighborhoods in nearby South Jersey.

Notorious is a former gang that was based in Sydney, Australia. They claimed to be an outlaw motorcycle club; however, not all members ride motorcycles. A large percentage of its membership consisted of petty criminals, with no real history of bikers among their ranks. Its emblem features a skull with a turban brandishing twin pistols and the words "Original Gangster" beneath it, along with the motto "Only the dead see the end of war". Labeled as one of Australia's most dangerous gangs, they had been feuding with larger and well-known motorcycle gangs including the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. It was thought that as of March 2012 the gang no longer existed as an organised structure after being dismantled by a police operation arresting key members and with other members choosing to quit the gang life. This served to reinforce claims by established MCs that Notorious wasn't a genuine club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waray-Waray gangs</span> Criminal groups in the Philippines

Waray-Waray gangs are generic terms used in the Philippines to denote of criminal groups who are of Waray ethnicity. They originated from provinces Leyte and Samar where the majority are of Waray background, later spreading into Luzon. Most of their criminal activities involved armed robberies, but various other gangs have also dabbled in kidnapping, carnapping, gun running, assassinations, gang warfare, and narcotics sale. Their bloody confrontations with the police made them the most notorious gang in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Sacramento shooting</span> Gang shooting in Sacramento, California

On April 3, 2022, at approximately 2:00 a.m., a mass shooting occurred in downtown Sacramento, California, United States. Six people were killed and twelve others were injured. The Sacramento Bee described it as the "worst mass shooting in Sacramento's history". Five shooters are suspected to be involved in the incident.

References

Citations

General

  1. 1 2 Goldberg 1990, 6:00.
    Goldberg: Was anybody trying to hit anybody?
    Foulk: No. ... I said, 'Don't hit them'. Because, actually, I was afraid ... if we had shot somebody, ... I was kind of concerned about lawsuits, and I knew that it would be a much more serious incident if—
    Goldberg: Lawsuits? You could have been convicted of murder if you killed somebody.
    Foulk: Well there is a self-defense law in this state, and we were within our legal rights in defending ourselves.
  2. 1 2 Robinson 2009, p.  A9. "For 20 years, the official version of the shootout held that no one was hurt in the gunfire. Not true, according to Foulk. During the firefight, one gangster rushed toward Foulk's house. 'I guess he thought he was gonna John Wayne it', Foulk remembered. One of the Rangers took aim and winged the attacker in the shoulder. The attacker staggered back and ran away."
  3. 1 2 Janavel 2022. "According to reports from 30 years ago, no one was injured in the shooting. However, Foulk says several attackers were hit. 'If a gang member got shot, they didn’t lay around waiting for EMS. Their gang buddies took them away. Wherever, whatever they did with them.'"
  4. 1 2 UPI 1989.
  5. ↑ Goldberg 1990.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 AP 1989b.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Eng 1998.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Robinson 2009, p.  A8.
  9. ↑ Robinson 2009, p.  A8. "Hamstrung by budget constraints and desperately short on the patrol side, [Fjetland] shifted four of six officers away the[ sic ] Hilltop crime management team".
  10. ↑ Robinson 2009, p.  A8. "'They used to call it "over the hood or over the radio,"' said ... a retired Tacoma police officer. '... [I]f the fight didn't come over the hood of the police car[,] you could drive away and let it resolve itself. Because that way there's less violence, less stress, and that's the way things were done.'"
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Koch & Plank 1989.
  12. ↑ Robinson 2009 , p.  A8, quoting Gilbert 1989.
  13. ↑ Robinson 2009, p.  A8. "In 1989, Ash Street was an open-air drug market. There were several hot spots, but the epicenter was a little house ... [home to] the main dog on the street". p.  A9. "Across the street at [the house]."
  14. ↑ AP 1989b. "Sergeant Foulk ... said the gang members had become upset earlier Saturday that he was filming, from his second-floor window, the comings and goings at a yellow bungalow that has a reputation of being a crack house."
  15. ↑ Robinson 2009, p.  A8. "'I don't want to act like I'm innocent, 'cause I'm not', [the former tenant] said. 'I'm aware of things that took place, but sometimes it wasn't to my liking. I didn't agree to it. I don't want to blame and act like I was totally innocent of the situation. Did I approve of it? No. Could I control it? No.'"
  16. ↑ AP 1989c.
  17. ↑ Gilbert 1989.
  18. ↑ Goldberg 1990, 2:18.
  19. ↑ Goldberg 1990, 0:24.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Robinson 2009, p.  A9.
  21. ↑ Goldberg 1990, 6:25.
  22. ↑ Eng 1998. "Twenty minutes after 9 p.m., someone fired the first shot."
  23. ↑ Goldberg 1990, 1:20.
  24. ↑ Robinson 2009, p.  A9, quoting a police report. "R/SGT (Responding sergeant) lectured Foulk and his companions for not calling for police assistance until shots were fired. ... R/SGT feels that this situation may have been avoided by calling 911 prior to the shooting getting started. R/SGT also expressed the above thoughts to the military commanders of Foulk and his friends".
  25. 1 2 Koch & Plank 1989. "'Why didn't we get called a little sooner so we could defuse it a little?' asked ... [a] Police Department spokesman. Foulk said he did not call because he did not think it would help."
  26. ↑ Goldberg 1990, 3:45.
    Goldberg: Why didn't you call the police?
    Foulk: Because we had gotten conditioned from the response in calling 9-1-1 that unless the crime is actually being committed and the officer can see it, there's not anything they're going to do about it.
  27. ↑ AP 1989a.
  28. ↑ AP 1989b. "[The] second-in-command of ... the Second Ranger Battalion said: 'From everything I am told by the city police, the Rangers were right. They were having a party, and they were attacked.'"
  29. ↑ Koch & Plank 1989. "The Rangers ... were not expected to be disciplined, said [the] company commander .... He said the Rangers should not have been called to the situation at Foulk's home, but defended their decision to return fire."
  30. 1 2 3 4 Robinson 2009, p.  A10.
  31. ↑ Servi 2020.
  32. ↑ Goldberg 1990, 7:49.
  33. ↑ Janavel 2022.

Regarding uncertain numbers

  1. 1 2 3 AP 1989b, AP 1989c, & Koch & Plank 1989: 12 Rangers total. UPI 1989: 10 to 15. Robinson 2009: 15.
  2. 1 2 Koch & Plank 1989: 3 Rangers initially present. UPI 1989 & Robinson 2009: a few.
  3. 1 2 Koch & Plank 1989: 5 to 25 minutes of shooting. Goldberg 1990, 1:20 & Robinson 2009: 10. Eng 1998: more than 10. AP 1989a & AP 1989b: 30.
  4. 1 2 UPI 1989: more than 100 rounds fired. AP 1989c: 200 to 300. Foulk (in Goldberg 1990, 0:34), Eng 1998, & Robinson 2009: 300. AP 1989a, AP 1989b, & Koch & Plank 1989: hundreds.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.