Police: Masked gunman kills woman during home invasion

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -– A Lakewood father and daughter were terrorized early Tuesday morning when a home invasion turned violent.

Three people were in the apartment when the crooks barged in. The father and another person were unharmed, but his 36-year-old daughter was shot and killed by one of two suspects.

It all happened at the Union Crest apartment building just after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning in the Tillicum neighborhood of Lakewood.

“One confronted him in the bedroom, while that person was rummaging through his stuff taking a laptop and electronics,” said Chris Lawler from the Lakewood Police Department. “He heard the other suspect yell at his adult daughter in another room in the apartment and heard a gunshot."

The Pierce County Medical Examiner identified the fatal gunshot victim as 36-year-old Melissa Williams.

“Being that it’s right next door, it’s very close to home,” said neighbor Katrina Philips-Thayer.

Philip-Thayer says she knows Williams and can’t imagine why anyone would want to hurt her.

“She always had candy for the kids and stuff like that. She was nice. I didn’t know of any problems with her,” she said.

Investigators are asking anyone with information to come forward to police with the suspect’s whereabouts.

Neighbors were stunned nobody else was hurt.

“I have three kids, bullets could have ricochet,” said Philips-Thayer. “The walls are thin and it’s scary.”