GIG HARBOR — Pierce County sheriff’s investigators say it appears the armed man who was killed by a Tacoma police officer during a traffic stop earlier this week did not fire his handgun.
Spokesman Ed Troyer says the semi-automatic gun was loaded with bullets that can pierce body armor. More ammunition was found in the man’s pickup truck along with a sword, pepper spray, an English version of the Quran and book on the rights of non-Muslims in Muslim countries.
The man was identified by the medical examiner’s office as 54-year-old Brooks Papineau of Gig Harbor.
Troyer says he smelled of alcohol and had a history of drunken driving.
Papineau went to work at 6 p.m. Tuesday at a postal facility in Federal Way but left two hours later, saying he was sick.
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