By the time I met photographer Tom Tedord, we heard a helicopter was inbound to airlift the victim to a first class trauma facility. We wanted to get a shot of that helicopter taking off, because it was the most visual aspect of this unfolding story we could get.
The first report we heard was the aircraft would land at the Lacey WalMart. That didn't seem right. Neither Tom nor I have ever seen one of those helicopters land in a busy parking lot like that of WalMart on Memorial Day.

So, with a quick check of the map, Tom realized there was an elementary school just behind the WalMart.
About four minutes later we were in front of the school and so was a fire truck (a good sign).
Just as Tom and I got around behind the school, we could hear the high-pitched whine that unmistakably belongs to a helicopter getting ready for take-off.
We were the only crew there. The shot was ours!
Still, the elation of getting some exclusive video was quickly sobered by the facts of the case.
When we showed up to "The Firs" apartment complex, the sign out front that reads "quiet community" couldn't have been more ironic.
Neighbors gathered around apartment 13. Crime tape was up. The stories about how people heard "hammer sounds" and how the 23-year-old victim was crying for help as he lay prone in his doorway filled the courtyard.

One woman said she held the rags to keep the man from bleeding to death while she waited for the paramedics to arrive.
Then, Thurston County's Chief Criminal Deputy Jim Chamberlain showed up. He's the big guy, third in line behind the Sheriff.
Chamberlain told us the story the victim told them.
"The young male in his apartment was assaulted by two black males, according to him, they basically committed a home invasion. He was giving them his personal property that they demanded, when they opened fire on him."
They shot him while robbing him? For no reason?
By now, I noticed detectives carting several bags of evidence out of the man's apartment. (They wouldn’t comment on the record about what was inside). I had also seen people who called themselves "friends" of the victim.
My reporter instinct told me there may be more to this story.
How common is it for home-invasion robbers to empty their guns into a compliant victim, I asked.
"In most home invasion robberies, very few shots are ever fired. In most cases I've seen maybe one to scare the suspect or victim, but in most cases no shots are fired," said Chamberlain. "It's very unusual for them to be robbing him according to him, and then to shoot him. Obviously that's one of the curious circumstances."
At the end of the day, we learned doctors were expecting the victim to survive his wounds. Which means he is probably "out of the woods" as the old saying goes.
Unless, of course, there's more to the story - somebody shot this man three times not because they wanted to rob him, but because they wanted to take his life.
(The victim’s name has been withheld because police believe releasing it could further jeopardize his safety)