Washington State Tribal Casino Searched for Shooting Suspect

Posted on: July 14, 2022, 08:23h. 

Last updated on: July 15, 2022, 04:27h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Police searched Washington State’s Muckleshoot Casino late this week for a shooter after a man was wounded at a nearby gasoline station on Wednesday. The victim was shot in the leg. His injuries were not life-threatening.

Muckleshoot Casino
Muckleshoot Casino, pictured above. The Washington State casino was searched for a shooting suspect this week. (Image: Seattle and Sound)

The victim was treated at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. The incident began as a dispute between the shooter and the victim, KOKO, a local TV station, reported.

As of Thursday, police had yet to make an arrest in the case. It is unknown if they located a suspect at the Auburn, Wash. gaming property.

Last October, there was another shooting near Muckleshoot Casino. A man was apprehended after a victim was wounded on Oct. 14. The victim was also treated at Harborview Medical Center. The suspect surrendered without incident. It is unknown if the person was ever charged, or if they were identified by police, KOKO said.

The gaming property is owned and operated by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. It is located about 28 miles south of Seattle.

Voyeurism Incident

In January, a registered sex offender pleaded not guilty after he allegedly recorded an employee at the Muckleshoot Casino while in a toilet on Dec. 21.

John Matthew Lair, 44, of Seattle was charged with first-degree voyeurism, the Kent Reporter, a Washington State newspaper, reported.

Auburn Police claim Lair used a cell phone to make the video. Following an inquiry, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Lair on Jan. 6.

The casino employee said he was using a toilet when a man in the neighboring stall dropped his jacket. The employee then spotted a cell phone emerging from the jacket pocket, the victim told authorities. It was under the partition between the two stalls.

The suspect then allegedly touched the cell phone several times. He changed the position of the camera, the report adds. The victim said he could hear a “ding” sound. That led him to believe the suspect began recording him with the cell phone.

Given his concerns, the employee took out his own cell phone to record the episode. The victim later identified Lair as the suspect, the report said. It also appeared Lair was allegedly trying to hide the cell phone under the jacket.

Drunk at The Point

Last month, an intoxicated man allegedly pointed a pistol at a blackjack dealer at The Point Casino in Kingston, Wash. The suspect had an alarmingly high blood alcohol level.

The 24-year-old Bremerton, Wash. suspect, who was not identified in local press reports, reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.33 at the casino on June 11. It was several times Washington State’s legal maximum for driving of .08, sheriff’s deputies revealed.

After a security guard ordered that the suspect no longer be served alcohol, the guard took the man’s beer away. A dealer then alerted officials the man needed to be cut off from drinks after he was seen slumped over at a casino table.

Soon, the man allegedly pulled out a 9 mm gun and aimed it at the dealer. The dealer shouted out, “Gun!” The dealer then hid for safety under the table. The man put the firearm into his pocket.

At first, the suspect denied to deputies he had pointed the gun. But deputies showed the man a surveillance video. He then “stopped talking and put his head down,” according to a sheriff’s report on the incident.

He was charged with second-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He was being held on $50,000 bail.

Later, the suspect’s blood alcohol concentration remained so high, Kitsap County Jail did not want to book him, the Kitsap Sun, a local newspaper, reported. So a deputy drove him back to his home.