Soldier back from Iraq loses home in hail iof police bullets

By MIKE HALLIDAY

The Mirror

Sean Schooley served in Iraq and helped Hurricane Katrina victims after that disaster, but he wasn’t expecting to become a victim.

“It’s weird, because now I know how they feel,” Schooley said Tuesday while standing in the remains of his apartment in Federal Way.

Unlike the hurricane victims, Schooley and his roommate’s apartment wasn’t damaged by water, wind or fire, but by bullets, blood and tear gas

Schooley and Tammy Minkler say it could have been avoided.

Police received a 9-1-1 call early the morning of Nov. 17 from a woman who said a man visiting her had suddenly become agitated and threatened her with a gun. The woman escaped when he went to the bathroom.

During a lengthy standoff that began at about 4 a.m., Federal Way Police and a special response team tried to get Pondexter Bryant to surrender after he barricaded himself in the apartment. Eventually, he broke through the ceiling, crawled through the attic and smashed the ceiling in Schooley and Minkler’s living room –– three doors down. He also busted the ceiling of a closet.

Police shot Bryant, who had a lengthy criminal record, in Schooley and Minkler’s apartment after he fired at them, according to authorities.

Bryant, 44, was declared dead at the scene, and the King County medical examiner later ruled he died from multiple gunshot wounds.

The damage to the apartment unit during the incident has forced Schooley and Minkler to move out at least temporarily.

They claim Bryant didn’t have a gun until he found Minkler’s Glock 23 on her headboard and fired it at police. She had the gun for protection, they said.

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