Costco workers help police catch suspect in shooting

Tukwila police nabbed a man suspected of shooting his girlfriend in front of her children, thanks in part to several Costco employees and a plainclothes officer who happened to be shopping inside.

On Wednesday, several workers at the store's tire center spotted two men breaking into a car parked nearby. According to police, the employees yelled at the men to stop.

The employees phoned police and chased after the would-be car thieves as the suspects fled. The men rushed to a car, then drove a short distance through the parking lot to the main Costco store, just off the West Valley Highway.

Hiding inside, the suspects phoned a friend for a ride, but the plainclothes officer spotted them.

That officer happened to be Assistant Police Chief Lori Sutter, who was using her lunch break to return a sweater.

She heard about the incident on her police radio before she went inside. In the store, she saw the men in the bakery and found it odd that they were wearing T-shirts on a cold day.

"I know shopping, and they weren't shopping," she said.

She called a police commander on her cell phone to get the men's descriptions. She also followed them around the store, watching them drift through the cosmetic and candy aisles.

At one point, they made their way to the electronics area. "They probably thought I was an old lady," the 53-year-old joked.

The police commander and another officer entered the store and arrested the men.

As the arrests were taking place, Sutter used her shopping cart to block the aisle and asked customers not to enter the area. "It's my first incident of arrest by shopping," Sutter said.

Officers also arrested the driver who'd come to give the suspects a ride. Police say that man, a 24-year-old Tukwila resident, shot his girlfriend in the head Dec. 14 in front of the woman's two young children.

The woman did not die, and police have been searching for her assailant since. The man is in police custody on suspicion of attempted murder.