Tacoma school shooter died by suicide, not deputy

Published 8:33 am Thursday, June 3, 2010

TACOMA — A Washington state medical examiner says a gunman who killed a Tacoma teacher committed suicide and was not killed by a shot from a sheriff’s deputy’s gun.

The News Tribune of Tacoma reports that forensic tests by the Pierce County medical examiner’s office showed 30-year-old Jed Waits of Ellensburg died Feb. 26 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

He had stalked and shot Jennifer Paulson, a special education teacher, at Birney Elementary School.

Waits was stopped a short time later by the deputy and pulled a gun. Both men fired. The deputy was not wounded.

Information from: The News Tribune, www.thenewstribune.com