Tacoma police chief met wife in lot by chance, children say

Pierce County sheriff's detectives are pursuing reports that Tacoma Police Chief David Brame may have indicated an intention to commit suicide in the hours before he shot his estranged wife in the head and then killed himself in a Gig Harbor parking lot.

Also, interviews with the couple's two young children show that the fatal Saturday afternoon meeting between Brame and his wife at the shopping center was happenstance, contrary to earlier reports that the couple had met to exchange custody of the children, ages 8 and 5, said Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer.

Crystal Brame, 34, who had filed for divorce from David Brame, 44, in February, alleging years of emotional and physical abuse, has been upgraded to serious condition today at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a gunshot wound to the head. Her attorney, Joe Lombino, said she remained comatose and on life support.

Troyer said homicide investigators were questioning a number of people who have come forward with information about Brame's movements and statements after the abuse allegations were reported in the media last week. They are also interviewing witnesses at the shopping center who may have heard Brame speak before the shooting.

Detectives are theorizing that the chief may have been suicidal but had not intended to shoot his wife until the chance meeting in the parking lot.

"We're trying to distinguish between who really might have information and those who just heard somebody say they heard something," he said. Investigators also are reviewing tapes of several 911 calls.

The children have told detectives that they were with their father — who had custody of them from Friday until Sunday — and were on their way to a Rite Aid pharmacy in the shopping mall when they saw Crystal Brame's vehicle, Troyer said.

The chief parked his car several slots away from Crystal Brame's Toyota and told the children to stay in the back seat. He then walked over to his estranged wife's car, got in the passenger side and had a brief conversation before shooting her and then himself.

Lombino confirmed this version of events, saying further that the children ran to their mother as she attempted to crawl out of the car. A passer-by led them away and into a nearby shop, where the older child was able to remember her maternal grandmother's telephone number and the family rushed to the scene.

But Lombino wondered why they had driven to Gig Harbor — where Crystal Brame and the children had been living in the family home — when the chief and the children had been staying the weekend at his apartment in Tacoma.

Outrage over the incident has resulted in claims of a cover-up by law enforcement. Troyer said the sheriff's office had never been contacted: not by Crystal Brame, not by her attorneys or by anyone else who now claims to have known about the abuse.

Tacoma police officials, meantime, continued to maintain that there was no outward indication that David Brame, a 22-year department veteran who had worked his way from patrolman to chief, was capable of domestic abuse, let alone attempted murder and suicide.

Several, including the new acting chief, Catherine Woodard, said the department under Brame's leadership had had zero tolerance for domestic abuse, both within its ranks and in the community. "All of us together didn't see any warning signs. There just were none," Woodard said yesterday. "We were just shocked."

Tom Orr, the department's legal adviser, said Brame had investigated and recommended discipline for officers involved in abuse while he was in charge of the department's Internal Affairs Division and, as chief, had dismissed officers for that reason.

"His stand on domestic violence has been clear," Orr said. "It breaks my heart he did what he did."

Lombino ripped into those who attempt to rationalize the incident or defend Brame in any fashion.

"He violated the oath he undertook to uphold the law," Lombino said. "None of this can be used to mitigate what he has done."

The couple had split after Crystal Brame alleged her husband was controlling, abusive and had threatened to kill her. The chief contended that he was the one who had been abused in the relationship, and that his wife was emotionally unstable and was trying to destroy his career.

In more than 250 pages of divorce proceedings, friends and family members filed sworn declarations describing Crystal Brame as a loving and doting mother who feared her husband. No personal declarations had been filed on the chief's behalf.

Linda Lee Clarke, who owns a gift shop in Gig Harbor, said in an interview that Crystal Brame stopped by the store regularly.

"You could tell she was very strained, very nervous, always worrying about David's approval. She would always say, 'Well, David won't allow me to do this, or David won't allow me to do that,' " Clarke said. She never knew Crystal Brame to have any friends.

"It was that kind of a life," she said.

Seattle Times staff reporters Maureen O'Hagan and Ray Rivera contributed to this report.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com