There was not much surprise when various news agencies reported that the surviving suspect in the slaying of Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel McCartney has a long criminal history, according to the Tacoma News Tribune, underscored by the fact that an image of the suspect used by various news outlets is a Department of Corrections photo.
McCartney died from wounds suffered in what appears to have been a gunfight with at least one of the two suspects in a home invasion robbery in Frederickson, a community southeast of Tacoma. News of McCartney’s death has shaken people across Washington State.
Also killed in that confrontation was Henry Michael Carden, 35, whose Facebook page says he resided in Curlew, a community in northern Ferry County in Northeast Washington. He died at the scene of the shooting.
But jailed in Pierce County for investigation of first-degree murder is a man identified as Frank William Pawul, 32, of Eatonville. Initially arrested on an outstanding warrant from Mason County, Pawul’s record includes felony convictions for drug possession, residential burglary and theft, according to the Tacoma News Tribune. He was arrested Monday by a State Patrol trooper on the warrant after being stopped by an officer manning a perimeter of an area being searched by other deputies and officers.
Carden also reportedly had a criminal history that included convictions for burglary and second-degree assault.
Pawul was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. Even if Pawul did not pull the trigger, he could be prosecuted for McCartney’s slaying.
On Tuesday, Pawul’s Facebook page had received dozens of messages from people expressing outrage and disgust over the death of Deputy McCartney.
Felony convictions disqualify people from owning or possessing firearms. Liberty Park Press has reached out to a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office to learn whether authorities have determined the source of two firearms recovered by investigators Monday.
If those guns are linked to the two suspects, it would mean more trouble for the man behind bars who already has plenty of trouble. A convicted felon could not obtain a firearm legally in Washington or any other state under existing gun control laws.
