Slain Tacoma teacher had been harassed by gunman for years

TACOMA — The man who fatally shot a Tacoma special education teacher before being slain by a sheriff's deputy Friday morning had stalked the woman for years, showering her with unwanted attention that made her fearful, according to police and court records.

The victim, Jennifer Paulson, 30, had obtained a civil anti-harassment order against the man in September 2008 after he repeatedly called her, sent her flowers and visited her workplace against her wishes, according to Tacoma Municipal Court records.

The gunman, identified by police as Jed Waits of Ellensburg, had been arrested last Friday for violating that order and had spent the weekend behind bars, according to Tacoma police.

Police said Waits, 30, of Ellensburg, had a "major infatuation" with Paulson, but the two had never been romantically involved.

Witnesses told police that they saw Waits waiting outside Birney Elementary School for about two hours before Paulson drove up around 7:30 a.m. Friday. As she got out of her car he opened fire with a handgun, police said.

No children were at the school at the time of the shooting, police said.

Omar Moreno, who lives across the street from the school, heard the gunshots.

"I heard two gunshots. I heard a woman scream," he said.

Moreno then looked outside and saw an armed man fire an additional gunshot at another man who had apparently witnessed the shooting. The witness ran for cover and apparently was not hit by gunfire, Moreno said.

The gunman then got into a tan Honda Accord and drove off, Moreno said.

A school employee was able to give police a description of the car.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said a deputy pulled over the Waits' car in the parking lot of a day-care center in Frederickson. He emerged from the car firing a handgun, Troyer said.

The deputy returned fire and killed the man. That shooting forced the evacuation of the day care.

"We're lucky our guy's OK. The guy did have semi-automatic and did fire a round," Troyer told KCPQ-TV.

Deputies recovered a handgun at the scene, Troyer said.

At the school, Moreno, 22, said he ran across the street after the gunman drove off. Moreno checked on the teacher, but she was bleeding profusely from several gunshot wounds.

"It all happened so quickly," he said.

According to court records, Paulson met Waits while both were attending Seattle Pacific University. However, she said they were never romantically involved, but were part of the same group of friends.

Both graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 2003, Paulson with a degree in special education and Waits with a degree in English.

Paulson wrote in the harassment-order paperwork that said she would receive repeated phone calls from Waits about once a year after graduating and that she would ignore them. But in September 2008 his repeated attempts to contact her prompted her to obtain the anti-harassment order. The order required that Waits remain at least 1,000 feet away from her home and workplace and that he not try to contact her.

After Waits' arrest last Friday for violating the order, police said he made bail Monday.

The Tacoma Fire Department responded to the shooting at 7:37 a.m., but paramedics were unable to save Paulson, according to spokesman Toryono Green.

Officials closed the school for the day, and students already on their way to school were diverted to a nearby community center. The school has about 400 students in grades K-5.

Paulson had been employed by the district since 2004 and had been at Birney since 2007. Tacoma School District spokesman Dan Voelpel said the teacher worked in the language resource center helping students one-on-one with reading problems.

"That's probably why she was a special ed teacher," said her father, Ken Paulson, "because she loved so much."

Seattle Pacific University President Philip W. Eaton released the following statement about Paulson: "Her work teaching special education students provides just a glimpse of theloving, quality person she was, and the positive influence she has had inthe greater community andamong her family and friends. Our heartsand prayers go out to her family in their time of grief. We are proud to remember Jennifer as an SPU student and graduate."

Jennifer Paulson's aunt, Celeste Paulson, said, "This young lady was truly a gentle soul. You just couldn't have found a kinder person."

Information from The Associated Press and Times staff reporter Steve Miletich is included in this report