saturday september 23rd 1989.
an army ranger who had just purchased a
home on one of tacoma washington's most
gang-infested streets quickly became a
witness to various illegal activity
happening out front of his home he
wasn't shy of confronting it or
notifying the authorities and soon after
he became the target of one of the most
notorious street gangs washington state
has ever seen
and after shaking up the hornet's nest
one too many times his home was ambushed
by the hilltop cribs gang but not before
he invited 15 of his ranger buddies over
for a barbecue
300 rounds and 10 minutes later the
crips were fighting for their lives
[Applause]
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in 1989 the neighborhood of ash street
in tacoma washington was an open-air
drug market there were several hot spots
in almost every house on the block was
an active and thriving trap house these
gang infestations in the 1980s born from
the crack epidemic flooded the streets
and created an economic downturn that
defined the decade you might remember
president ronald reagan declaring the
war on drugs or his first lady who was
just like just say no oh my god that
well that was this time tacoma was
washington state's ground zero of gang
activity and by the summer of 1989 it
had grown blatant middle of the day type
[ __ ] like selling crack to the ice cream
man type [ __ ] and this was all fueled by
an influx of gang members moving in from
california tacoma police had experienced
nothing like it before and were really
struggling to get it under control
oftentimes not even knowing how to
respond to it ash street neighbors
consistently called police and called
9-1-1 repeatedly and got nowhere the
typical response from police at the time
was very mild community-oriented
policing was a new thing such as taking
[ __ ] calls and pretending like it's
not [ __ ] yes ma'am i know you can't
sleep when the dogs are barking but
community policing was still viewed with
suspicion by veteran cops who came up in
the 60s and prefer the old ways like
smacking people in the head with their
portable radios at the time tacoma
police chief ray faitland pushed these
new community policing programs so far
that the hilltop [ __ ] gang rose to power
when the ogs from htc when we mount it
up
staff sergeant william fulk of the
second ranger battalion 75th ranger
regiment purchased his home on ash
street in hopes that the neighborhood
would soon turn around to protect that
investment he was determined to help
push the drugs and gangs out by any
means necessary which may seem crazy to
most people but staff sergeant full was
not most people he was an elite operator
who at a moment's notice could hit hard
and smash [ __ ] everything you know
ranger [ __ ] but violence was the last
thing the staff sergeant wanted and he
remained optimistic in the summer of
1989 folk returned from a december
deployment in panama to find the
neighborhood worse than when he left
along with other neighbors who were
honest hard-working people he formed a
neighborhood group that pressed police
demanding action the neighbors started
making signs protesting and taking
pictures of the drug dealers even as the
tension on ash street rose chief
faitland made a decision he would later
regret hamstrung by budget constraints
and desperately short on the patrol side
he shifted four of six officers away
from the hilltop crime management team
to launch a community policing pilot
project the neighbors on ash street
reacted with dismay under fire from
citizens and the city council a local
tribune covered the controversy noting
efforts by ash street neighbors to
monitor the drug activity themselves
after the news tribune piece drug
traffic on ash street slowed but only so
much staff sergeant folk was used to
seeing more than 100 cars pass through
his block on any given day and after the
story appeared it was down to 20 cars
polk decided to install a video camera
on his upstairs window to record the
traffic he organized a neighborhood
barbecue as a show of public unity set
for 3 p.m saturday september 23rd he
invited neighbors friends ranger buddies
and thought nothing more of it the day
of the barbecue a group of hilltop [ __ ]
gang bangers acknowledged folk outside
of his residence and gave him the gun
finger it came from a car full of crips
driving by his house the index finger
pointed thumb up a little flip of the
hand the mouth words boom boom
[Music]
[Music]
the gangster saw the video camera on
folks house and a few hours later they
returned and threw rocks at it someone
else took shots at the house and the
video camera with a bb gun folk and a
few ranger buddies then walked across
the street to confront the out of shape
chain smoking gang bangers who think
they're hard folk told them to stop
throwing things at his home and the
neighbor's homes to stop shooting bbs
and to instead turn their lives around
and find better ways the gangbangers
warned him to take the camera out of his
window the gangbangers suggested the
staff sergeant didn't know who he was
dealing with the staff sergeant
suggested the gangbangers didn't know
who they were dealing with
they then told him your history [ __ ]
and told them they were going to burn
his house down and light him up as soon
as the sun goes down folk decided to
walk away and before he returned to his
home he overheard one of the crips
stating i'm gonna shoot that army son of
a [ __ ] folk then walked inside his
house he picked up his telephone called
some more of his ranger buddies from the
second ranger battalion and invited them
over for a barbecue suggesting it
wouldn't hurt if they came armed with
translation bring your own bullets hey
guys let's have a barbecue okay well
yeah what are we gonna smoke just some
crips
[Music]
including the few rangers who were
already at the barbecue and the rangers
called the total of rangers grew to 15.
folk told them to bring personal weapons
and whatever else they had they came
armed to the teeth with handguns
shotguns and rifles folk was armed with
a browning nine millimeter and a cult
python 357 magnum [ __ ] magnum who's
who's the gangster now [ __ ] over a
couple beers folk pitched to his buddies
a defensive operation of his home
stakeout locations and wait no first
moves if police come disarm immediately
cooperate and assist and all of his
buddies joyfully agreed and were [ __ ]
down they thought maybe nothing will
happen but if it does zero tolerance for
dudes shooting gats and smoking swisher
sweets as the sun went down the rangers
dispersed into their defensive positions
alert and observant of any and all
activity inside and outside the
perimeter of the house a few hours had
passed as the rangers held their
positions one ranger observed a vehicle
approaching in the distance at a slow
rate of speed at which point the vehicle
shut off its headlights folk with his
magnum in hand returned the favor and
turned out the lights in his house and
in the yard at 9 20 pm as the vehicle
approached someone within the vehicle
fired a shot into the air the house was
now taking fire from the rear where
according to police reports small
caliber automatic gun fire was heard the
rangers opened a [ __ ] ton of fire but so
did the hilltop crips one of the rangers
william edwards was posted on the front
porch when the shooting started he hit
the ground as a bullet slammed into the
wall beside him he and other rangers
returned fire seeing figures running
amongst parked cars on the other side of
the street ranger russell nolte posted
in the backyard crawled forward as a
shot hit the back of the house three
feet over his head ranger burr settles
was posted upstairs by the infamous
controversial [ __ ] video camera as a
shot came through the window the bullet
grazed his head and he received multiple
lacerations on his face from the
shattered glass numerous muzzle flashes
were now seen from the east there were
at least 16 shooters in three different
locations the rangers again returned
fire while outside the assailants took
cover amongst the parked cars shooting
over their shoulders ducking down
shooting blindly you know stupid [ __ ]
like that like gangsters do at this time
a neighbor taking cover on her kitchen
floor dialed 9-1-1 and just like the
famous wild west shootout at the ok
corral it was over in minutes 10 minutes
to be exact the first police car came
down the middle of the street cherries
and berries on with his siren blaring
the rangers dropped their weapons but as
that first patrol car arrived on scene
one of the hilltop [ __ ] gang members
popped a round off sending the patrol
car reversing out of the scene so
quickly smoke was seen coming from the
rear tires officers in the car reported
hearing 50 to 60 shots in less than one
minute shortly after more cops pulled
into the block and the gang bangers ran
[Music]
[Music]
the unarmed staff sergeant walked out
the back door to his driveway and the
alley behind his house he felt someone
behind and didn't fight a hand shoved
his head down and a voice ordered him to
the ground one gang member by the name
of frankie strickland was cornered by a
police canine and found to be in
possession of 16 rounds of 9 millimeter
he said he was holding them for a friend
but couldn't remember the friend's name
you know like a [ __ ] liar he also
said the same thing about the pistol he
was carrying it was for a friend another
suspect was carrying copper-headed
rounds for a gas gun once the situation
was under control and the officers
learned about the rangers defensive
operation the responding sergeant of the
tacoma police department wasn't too
happy about it he lectured folk and the
other rangers for not calling the police
for assistance until shots were fired
[Music]
and felt that the situation may have
been avoided by calling 9-1-1 prior to
the shooting getting started out of what
was quite possibly a 35-man gun fight
with over 300 rounds shot in the dark no
one was reported to be killed or injured
for 20 years the official version of the
shootout held that miraculously no one
was hurt but there are rumors injured
gang members did not seek medical
attention for obvious reasons and some
may have even been mortally wounded and
according to folk himself during the
fire fight one gang member rushed
towards folk's house i guess he thought
he was gonna john wayne it folk
remembered one of the rangers took aim
and hit the gangster in the shoulder the
attacker staggered back and ran away the
moment goes unmentioned in police
reports and witness accounts of the time
unverified gossip holds that the wounded
man was treated at a seattle area
hospital over an hour away from tacoma
doug sutherland who is mayor at the time
pondered a declaration of a city-wide
version of martial law to combat the
gang violence that immediately drew
national attention the city of tacoma
found the dollars to add more police
officers to their department then
governor booth gardner even considered
sending in the national guard to ash
street the hilltop [ __ ] gang member who
was arrested and found in possession of
the 9-mil and the pistol frankie
strickland was the only man charged in
connection with the shootout he was
convicted of second-degree assault and
was later sentenced to 22 months in
prison the military officially
considered the incident a matter of
self-defense for the off-duty rangers on
february 9 2010 tacoma police and fbi
launched a major crackdown on the
hilltop [ __ ] gang and charged 32 members
with up to 50 crimes everything from
theft to attempted murder and drug sales
a few years back a tacoma police officer
said something about the shootout he
said it was the single most important
incident in tacoma that caused a change
in police policies and practices staff
sergeant william falk never moved away
from ash street and as he predicted he
was never promoted and left the army in
1993. he still owns the property to this
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[Music]
you