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Lake City shooting suspect told police he had no memory after blacking out from drinking earlier in the day

caption: Police investigate the scene of a fatal carjacking and shooting on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at the intersection of 120th Street and Sandpoint Way Northeast in Seattle.
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Police investigate the scene of a fatal carjacking and shooting on Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at the intersection of 120th Street and Sandpoint Way Northeast in Seattle.
KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer

Lake City shooting suspect Tad-Michael Norman told police he had no memory of what transpired after he drank and played video games the afternoon of a deadly carjacking and shooting spree, according to a charging document filed by police.

On Wednesday, a shooter opened fire on people and a Metro bus on Sand Point Way NE in Lake City, killing 76-year-old Robert Michael Hassan, crashing a car that killed 76-year-old Richard Thurber Lee and injuring two more.

Police say Norman eventually got out of a red Toyota he had carjacked and was taken into custody. The charging document filed by police described Norman as "belligerent" and possibly intoxicated. It also says that Norman identified himself as "John Doe" to officers before explaining that he was a recovering alcoholic prone to blackout drinking.


Police say that Norman told officers that he bought vodka, rum and wine and started drinking around 12:30 p.m. Norman said he then played video games on his X-box, but then blacked out. He said he had no memory of shooting multiple people, the carjacking or the car crash.

The charging document from police also revealed a fourth victim of the shooting and carjacking: Julie Ann Blair, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employee who drove through the scene when she said the gunman shot at her truck.

Blair told police that as she was driving home from work, a man stepped into the road, turned towards her and fired two shots at her from a distance of about 33 feet. A police officer said she recovered a bullet from Blair's truck.

Prosecutors charged Norman, who they say was armed with a Glock 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

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