Tacoma firefighters are battling a garage fire in the 7000 block of South Oakes Street.

The fire was reported about 3:45 p.m. The detached garage was fully involved when firefighters arrived.

“It sounds like the garage has collapsed,” spokesman Joe Meinecke said. “Right now we’re trying to protect exposures to the house.”

UPDATE as of 4:20 p.m.

Firefighters prevented the garage fire from spreading to nearby homes. Now that the blaze is contained, officials are reopening South Oakes Street.

An investigator is on scene to determine what started the fire. No one was injured.

Tacoma police are investigating a shooting this afternoon near South 12th and Prospect streets. The shooting appears to be an accident, Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

Officers were first dispatched just after 2:20 p.m. to a house. Tacoma firefighters advised officers that a man had shot himself in the head, Fulghum said.

The man was transported to Tacoma General Hospital. His condition was not known.

Federal Way police said a man fired a gun Tuesday night during a foot pursuit.

An officer saw the man jaywalking across 288^th Street near Military Road South and recognized him as a suspect wanted for a misdemeanor.

When police tried to speak with the man, he allegedly ran, starting a foot pursuit.

The man bolted into a backyard and fired shots. Officers did not follow him into the backyard and instead tried unsuccessfully to cut him off around the side of the home.

No one was injured in the shooting.

Police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock said she does not know …

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A Lakewood man suspected of robbing a credit union branch Monday still had the stolen loot in his pants when he was arrested later in the day.

Pierce County prosecutors charged Thomas Charles Miller Jr., 28, on Tuesday with one count of first-degree robbery. He was ordered held in Pierce County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Charging documents provide the following information.

A man walked into Sound Credit Union, 7717 Bridgeport Way W., in Lakewood just after 10:20 a.m. Monday and demanded money from three tellers. The tellers put an undisclosed amount of cash into a plastic bag.

At …

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Our news partner, KIRO-TV, posted this update about the case of a Pierce County firefighter and his wife accused of abusing their daughters:

The man who went to police after he learned of allegations that his father was sexually abusing the family’s adopted daughters filed a civil suit against his mother and his father’s estate Tuesday, in part seeking child support for three of his sisters.

Trey Hamrick went to police after he discovered the allegations against his father, Scott Hamrick, Trey’s attorney Nelson Fraley said earlier this month.

Drew Anne Hamrick is currently facing charges of unlawful imprisonment …

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Two Lakewood men are now restricted from providing legal advice to immigrants under a settlement with the state attorney general’s office.

The settlement, which was announced today, does not require Edwin Cruz and Maurice Terry to admit wrongdoing. It only places limitations on their business practices.

Cruz and Terry are accused of misleading advertising and illegally entering into 480 agreements with clients to offer legal advice and prepare documents for immigration benefits.

The men were registered as “immigration assistants” with the state, which allows them to translate and transcribe documents. Officials said Cruz and Terry went so far as to …

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A mobile home near Carnation was destroyed this morning after a fire erupted and forced three residents to escape through windows and a door, according to Eastside Fire & Rescue.

Firefighters arrived to find the roof of the mobile home had collapsed and fire and smoke overwhelmed the area. After extinguishing the blaze, damages were estimated at $250,000.

One resident was treated at the scene for injuries and taken to a hospital for further treatment.

A Lakewood business owner today pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns in a scheme that defrauded the state of $92,543 in sales tax, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Jong Cheon, owner of Smoke and Beer and More, rang up purchases in the store with two different cash registers depending on whether the customer used cash or debit/credit cards, according to court documents.

Prosecutors contend the business only reported 27 percent of its retail sales tax from 2006 to early 2009. An audit uncovered the scheme.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Brian Tollefson ordered the store to pay …

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