Fort Lewis soldier arrested in Lakewood double slaying

Lakewood police arrested a Fort Lewis soldier last night on suspicion he gunned down a fellow soldier and a woman early Monday as the pair sat inside a car outside a local tavern.

Detectives received an anonymous tip late yesterday afternoon that led them to people who had additional information about the fatal double shooting, which in turn, enabled detectives to identify a suspect, said police Lt. Bret Farrar. The man was later arrested at Fort Lewis and was booked into the Pierce County Jail just after 10:30 p.m. on investigation of two counts of first-degree murder, Farrar said.

"It appears it may have been a robbery that went bad," he said of the shooting that occured just after midnight Monday in the 5400 block of 100th Street Southwest. He added there is no evidence that the man knew his victims.

Jason S. Jowers, a 26-year-old soldier who was among the first from Fort Lewis to be deployed to Iraq, was identified this morning by the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office. He died from multiple gunshot wounds, as did his companion, Crystal B. Hurley-McDowell, 23, of Lacey.