Armed bystander who gunned down pistol-wielding carjacking suspect in Washington is a pastor
The good Samaritan who gunned down an armed suspect in a series of carjackings that left three people shot in Tumwater, Washington, on Father's Day, was identified Tuesday as a church pastor also employed as a firefighter and medic, police said.
"I would definitely say, 'he's a hero,'" Kyle Fievez, whose father, Rick Fievez, 47, was shot and critically wounded by the suspected carjacker, told ABC News on Tuesday.
Laura Wohl, a spokeswoman for the Tumwater Police Department, said the pistol-packing good Samaritan is a local church pastor who is also a fire department lieutenant and paramedic in a neighboring town. She told ABC News that the 47-year-old minister does not want his name made public.
Wohl identified Tim Day, 44, of McCleary, Washington, as the suspected gunman who was killed in the incident.
The rampage started about 4:40 p.m. Sunday in Olympia, Washington, where Day allegedly tried to carjack a family at a gas station despite having his own car at the scene, Wohl said. When the carjacking failed, Day got back into his car and drove away, heading the wrong way on Highway 101, she said.
He exited the freeway in Tumwater and crashed into a car, she said.
"He then left his car and attempted to carjack at least two other vehicles, fired shots at the vehicles, and demanded owners abandon their cars," Wohl said.
Day fled the scene in a stolen vehicle, leaving two people, including a 16-year-old boy, with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Day drove to a nearby Walmart, where his rampage continued, she said.
"The suspect entered the store, proceeded to the sporting goods section where he fired at a locked ammunition display case, removed some ammunition and exited the store," Wohl said.
In the parking lot, Day allegedly confronted Rick Fievez and his wife, who works at the Walmart store, and ordered them at gunpoint to give him their car. He shot Rick Fievez twice when he did not comply, Wohl said.
Day then attempted yet another carjacking. When the driver backed way, one of three armed citizens who followed Day to the parking lot shot and killed him, Wohl said.
The pastor who shot Day immediately retrieved his first aid kit from his car and began to treat Rick Fievez, who was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Kyle Fievez said his dad was shot in the stomach and shoulder. He said fragments from the bullet that hit his dad in the shoulder lodged in his spine.
"They're extremely hopeful that he's going to make it," Kyle Fievez said of doctors treating his father. "He's a fighter. I think he's going to make it through it."
Kyle Fievez said he received a voicemail from the man who killed the gunman, but had yet to speak to him and thank him.
"I think it's great what he did," Kyle Fievez told ABC News. "I wish there were more like him out there."
He also said he appreciated the other two armed civilians who tried to stop the gunman.
"Yes, he did take the shot. Yes, he did stop the incident. Yes, he is a hero," Kyle Fievez said of the armed pastor. "But, at the same time, there were two others who were standing right there ready, too."
