Yet "there's no question that the door was open," counters Gomez defense attorney Haas. His own investigation indicates Pfaeffle could have pushed the unlocked door forward against the chair enough to force it open by at least nine inches. That could allow Gomez to see a figure in the doorway and react.
But if the door was open, how could the bullet hole in the door and jamb match up? Haas suggests the door may have opened, and then—due to the chair or Pfaeffle's reaction—closed again. Gomez could have seen a figure and fired after the door closed. "The ballistic evidence quite clearly shows the door was open," Haas argues. "I don't know why police have refused to acknowledge that."
Rick Anderson
Room 7 at the Blue Spruce Motel is where Tom Pfaeffle was mortally wounded by a King County roads engineer.
Rick Anderson
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He notes that Valarie told a detective the door was "open." Furthermore, attendants for Aero Methow Rescue Service said that during the 35-minute ambulance run to the hospital, Pfaeffle mentioned he thought he'd been given the key to the wrong room and "when he opened the door, the guy inside shot him," an investigative report states.
The defense attorney calls the shooting "a horrible accident." Okanogan County Prosecutor Karl Sloan calls it first-degree murder, due to the "extreme indifference to human life" shown by Gomez when he "created a grave risk of death" by his actions, according to charging documents. (A jury could instead issue a second-degree murder finding, and a manslaughter verdict is also possible; Gomez has pled not guilty). Sloan additionally charged Gomez with two counts of reckless endangerment: for the shot that went into the adjoining room, and for "creating the substantial risk of death" for Valarie, who was in the line of fire outside.
These are points sure to be explored at Gomez's trial, currently set for October 13. Haas wonders if there might have been a fourth bullet as well, which possibly disappeared out the open door. "At least one shot was fired while the door was open," he says. "Until we have the autopsy results [so far not released], it's difficult to say what bullet killed the deceased."
State law on justifiable homicide requires that there be "reasonable ground" and "imminent danger" to kill someone about to "commit a felony or to do some great personal injury." That's subject to interpretation. But even gun advocate Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week, says, "I have a hard time with this case. Shooting through a door typically does not constitute a case of self-defense."
Justifiable shooting cases involving intruders usually include visual confrontation and verbal warning before firing. Workman recalls a Tacoma case in which a woman killed her estranged boyfriend by shooting through a door—but he was threatening to kill her, and she went free.
Gomez has indicated he shot first and asked questions later. Says Workman: "Well, you just don't start blasting through a closed door." After reading through all the charging and investigative documents, Workman thinks all three rounds were fired "with the door closed."
"A man trying to enter through a locked door to your room does not pose any imminent danger," says Graham, Ferry County's former prosecuting attorney. "But a man who has succeeded in pushing your bedroom door open does pose an imminent threat, in that he is about to be standing over you when you are lying in bed. I don't believe that it will be determinative if the door is open three inches or nine inches. The fact remains that once a door is opened, there is nothing standing between you and an intruder."
It may be true Gomez felt he was in danger. But can such a deadly volley—without first announcing a warning—be justified? "If we can show the door was open enough to see a figure," says Haas, "in terms of self-defense, that's all we need."
"If the victim had been some hoodlum shot dead, would people have a different attitude—you know, 'Thank God Kino's OK'?" Haas wonders. Nevertheless, he adds, "Mr. Gomez is truly grieving for the [Pfaeffle] family."
Others are grieving for Tom as well. Two memorials were held, one at a church in Des Moines and another at the Moore Theater in downtown Seattle on August 13, where music filled the night. The program included a song from Queensryche, one of the bands Tom had worked with. Called "Silent Lucidity," it begins:
Hush now, don't you cry
Wipe away the teardrop from your eye
You're lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream
Spinning in your head...
Over in Twisp, the bad dream has been rubbed away. The damaged motel door was repaired, the broken lock fixed, and new, oversized numbers added above the door and to an outside wall. Today, when you drive up to the Blue Spruce Motel, you can't miss Room 8.
randerson@seattleweekly.com
This story is based on interviews with witnesses, law enforcement, the accused, his attorney, and friends of the victim, as well as 62 pages of police, sheriff, and prosecutor investigative records and public documents.
Editor's Note: This story has been corrected. Tom Pfaeffle worked with the band Atomic Bride, not Atomic Bridge.
