Tacoma police chief shoots wife, kills himself

By LEWIS KAMB, PHUONG CAT LE, ANGELA GALLOWAY and RUTH TEICHROEB SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

GIG HARBOR - Tacoma's police chief shot his wife and then himself in the parking lot of a strip mall Saturday afternoon while the couple's two young children were nearby.

David Brame died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma about 6 p.m. His wife Crystal was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

On Friday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that Crystal Brame, 35, had obtained a temporary restraining order in February against her husband. In subsequent court papers, she had accused him of pointing his service revolver at her and trying to choke her during two separate incidents in the past six months.

Brame, a veteran officer who rose through the ranks to become chief in January 2002, denied those allegations in court papers filed in King County Superior Court last month.

Saturday's shooting happened at about 3:10 p.m., said Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.

"We don't believe other people are involved," Troyer said. "The victims were the chief of the Tacoma Police Department and his wife. We believe he shot her and then shot himself."

Crystal Brame was in a black Toyota Camry with the couple's two children when David Brame approached the vehicle, authorities said. The two had arranged to meet in the shopping mall parking lot. David Brame took the two children - 8-year-old Haley and 5-year-old David - to his burgundy Toyota Camry, which was parked nearby. He then returned to the car Crystal Brame was in. He got in also and a short time later two shots were fired, authorities said.

"The kids were screaming," said Kirsten Oakland, who works in a hair salon at the mall. "Who would have thought? Awful. This affected the entire community in a split second."

An off-duty King County paramedic was the first to arrive on the scene and begin treatment.

"It appeared she (Crystal) managed to open the door and fell down to the ground," Troyer said. "And the paramedic pulled up right next to her in the car."

Neither child was hurt. They were with their mother's parents Saturday night, Troyer said.

George Sharp, a supervisor for the Rite Aid store, said almost nobody in the store actually heard the shooting. Many learned of it from customers and employees coming in for their shifts who had learned about the shooting from news reports.

"A lot of people expressed shock that it did happen in Gig Harbor and the customers and the employees wish that it hadn't happened but they didn't really feel any more threatened as they would if it were a drive-by or it were a random act," Sharp said.

"I think that people are saddened it got to that stage and unhappy that it happened here, and unhappy that it happened at all."

Troyer said one of the Brame children got out of the car and went into a nearby Hollywood Video store. Witnesses took the other child to the store too.

Jesse Hentz, assistant manager of the Hollywood Video, said: "I feel really bad. And I want the family to know that people care about them."

In court papers, Crystal Brame portrayed her husband as controlling and jealous, refusing to let her use their credit card without permission and checking her car's odometer to monitor trips to the grocery store.

She also accused him of leaving his loaded service revolver on a bedroom shelf within reach of their two children.

Her fear increased last November when she alleged that the 44-year-old Brame "choked me and threatened that he could snap my neck if he wanted to." It was the fourth time that year he'd tried to choke her, each time sending flowers later to apologize, she said.

And just before they separated in February, she alleged in court documents that Brame pointed his service revolver at her, "telling me 'accidents happen.' "

David Brame had maintained he was the real victim of domestic violence during his 11-year marriage. He said he reported the assaults to police -- first to his boss, then-interim Chief Ken Monner and to an officer who photographed his bruises; then to police in Gig Harbor, where he was living at the time.

Both times David Brame insisted that police not arrest his wife or even investigate his allegations - even though a state law requires officers to arrest anyone accused of domestic violence if the complaint is credible.

He explained his unusual behavior in court documents by saying he wanted to "protect himself" in case his wife ever tried to malign him with false abuse allegations.

Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan, who sits on the council's public safety committee, said he had a hard time believing the shooting had happened.

"We knew David from his professional side. This is a total shock," Lonergan said Saturday. "He presented himself as a very together person, business-like and very likeable. This entire thing is hard to grasp."

Although Lonergan said the usually outgoing Brame had been withdrawn and seemed depressed lately, he had no idea what was going on at home.

"To know David Brame took the action he did today shows that there was a whole lot beneath the surface we couldn't see," Lonergan said.

Ken Bunting, executive editor of the P-I, said "this is a tragic development in lives that, from all accounts, have been troubled for quite some time. These events are not only painful for the family, but for the community and all who have the responsibility to ask the difficult questions about it. Domestic violence is never a comfortable topic."

Paul Pastor, Pierce County sheriff, announced Brame's death from outside St. Joseph's hospital. He said only that Brame had died of a gunshot wound; no other details were given.

Carlos Sambrano, a childhood friend of the chief, went to the hospital to support the family. He said he and Brame played baseball at Lincoln High School.

"He never appeared to be a violent person," said Sambrano, who described his friend as a "class act."

Visibly distraught over the news of his friend's death, Sambrano said: "What's this world coming to."

"Here's alittle list , what will happen to a father after divorce"

A lot of men are screwed by the system. My step father was, and it was rough with the five of us living off what he made on unemployment while he had to continue making child support payments to a women who was making in exess of $70,000 a year.

He doesn't think all women are evil. He's broad minded enough to know that stereotyping is hateful, hurtful and plain dumb. Perhaps that's why he's still happily married to my mother.

I was an abused wife toward the end of my marriage. That is why I ended it. My ex husband's manipulation, and the manipulations of his lawyer (who is also a friend and admirer of F Lee Baily) gave me a nervous breakdown and landed my son in a mental hospital for 11 months because all he wanted to do was kill his father.

I do not believe all men are evil. I believe with all my heart that stereotyping is hateful, hurtful and really stupid. Perhaps that's why I'm happily married.

It would be really nice if those of us with axes to grind quit making blanket condemnations of entire genders. Sounds an awful lot like the mindset which contributes to couples at war.

That is "if the threat was real, which we now know it was". We do not know that, though I concede that it is plausible. My point was that the threat might have been engendered by her action to get the restraining order. She knew that the restraining order would destroy his career.

Granted. I don't know if good advice to either of them could have saved them.

Her allegations making the papers, and possibly the eventual effect they would have on his career, certainly look likely to be the fuse that set him off. I just don't know how to prevent people from "going off" by not using the court system we have to enforce crimes against us.... If you know he is a loose cannon that will freak if his position is threatened, then her position is impossible too, she either lives under that threat and the abuse of power that comes from it, or she creates the villain she fears by reporting it. It is a mess.

She never got a restraining order, according to this...

Sunday, April 27, 2003 · Last updated 4:29 p.m. PT

Chief Brame sought counseling before attempted murder-suicide

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GIG HARBOR, Wash. -- Before shooting his estranged wife and killing himself, Tacoma Police Chief David Brame had sought professional counseling to help deal with the stress of his impending divorce, a city official said Sunday.

City Manager Ray Corpuz said Chief Brame also went to an FBI seminar in January on emotional survival training for law enforcement officers. Brame was so impressed, Corpuz said, he arranged to have the instructor come to Tacoma in March to provide the training for his department.

"What makes this situation particularly difficult to understand is that Chief Brame recognized and was concerned about how emotional stress can affect police officers," Corpuz said.

David Brame, 44, was pronounced dead Saturday evening at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma after shooting his estranged wife, Crystal Brame, and then himself in a shopping center parking lot of this South Sound community Saturday afternoon.

Crystal Brame, 35, was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she remained in critical condition Sunday with a gunshot wound to the head, according to television news reports. Hospital officials were not releasing any information.

The couple had been going through a divorce.

Saturday afternoon, the chief and his wife arrived in the parking lot in separate cars in what appeared to be a prearranged meeting Saturday afternoon, said Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer.

The couple's two children - an 8-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy - were initially in Crystal Brame's vehicle. At one point, the chief put the children in his car, then went back to his wife's car and got inside. A heated conversation ensued, then witnesses reported hearing two quick shots, Troyer said.

Medics found Crystal Brame lying on the pavement beside her car with the driver's door ajar. The chief was found slumped over inside the car with a gunshot wound to the head, Troyer said.

Police recovered a Glock .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun from the crime scene, but authorities would not say whether it was the chief's service weapon.

The couple's two children, Haley and David, Jr., were reportedly staying with Crystal Brame's parents.

Police released no new information on Sunday.

In some of the plaza's stores, workers who had been on duty when the shooting happened refused to comment. In the neighborhood where Brame had lived with his wife and children, weary neighbors pleaded to be left alone.

The chief's colleagues said there was no indication the chief's personal situation would end in bloodshed, Corpuz said.

On Friday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that documents in the couple's divorce case revealed a history of domestic violence. Crystal accused her husband of pointing his gun at her, trying to choke her in November and saying he "could snap my neck if he wanted to."

It was the fourth time in 2002 that he had tried to choke her, she said, noting that each time he had sent her flowers to apologize.

David Brame claimed he had been victimized in the relationship. He accused his wife of having a "ferocious temper" and being emotionally unstable.

In court papers, he said his wife scratched, bruised and pushed him during two fights in September 1996. David Brame was 6-1 and 175 pounds; Crystal Brame is 5 feet tall and weighs about 105 pounds.

The chief said he reported the fights to his boss at the time, interim Chief Ken Monner; to another Tacoma officer who photographed his bruises; and to police in Gig Harbor, where he was living at the time.

But Gig Harbor Police Chief Mitchell Barker said that when David Brame reported marital problems, he was "vague" and did not mention any physical assault.

Crystal Brame, in her court filings, said David Brame refused to let her use their credit card without permission, checked her car's odometer to monitor trips to the grocery store and left his loaded service revolver on a bedroom shelf within reach of their two children.

Shortly before they separated in February, court filings indicate, David Brame pointed his service revolver at her, "telling me, 'Accidents happen,'" according to the court filings.

Neither incident was reported to police, and the chief denied choking or pointing his gun at his wife.

Crystal Brame filed a sworn statement on March 26, stating that her husband threatened her again. She indicated she might ask for a restraining order, but the court file does not reflect that she actually did so.

It was David Brame's second marriage. His first ended in divorce in 1987 after he and his former wife agreed the marriage was "irretrievably broken."

Corpuz said the city is scheduling stress debriefings for all officers involved in the investigation.

Funeral arrangements for David Brame were pending.

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