Woman Injured in Shooting Says|Police Ignored Gunman’s Confession

SEATTLE (CN) - A woman who was shot by her roommate after he killed her boyfriend claims she lay "matted with blood and tissue" for two days before regaining consciousness and crawling to a neighbor's house for help because Seattle police didn't believe the gunman's confession. Tina Nguyen says her attacker, Tri Minh Vo, tried to turn himself in immediately after the attack, but police "sent him home and paid no attention to him" after he couldn't provide the address of the shooting.

Vo then went back to the crime scene and tried to kill Nguyen again by "either severely beating her while she lay unconscious, or choking her, or shooting her again," according to Nguyen's lawsuit in King County Court.

"During the second day she regained consciousness and found herself matted in blood and tissue, her mouth was foaming, her eye-sight blurry, and she was only semi-aware of where she was and that she was alive," the lawsuit states.

"Plaintiff managed to crawl out of her room, and then further down a hallway and eventually out the front door. Plaintiff then crawled to a neighbor's home, crying and screaming for help," according to the complaint.

As Nguyen was crawling for help, Vo again tried to confess and gave the location of the shooting, Nguyen claims. Police arrived "almost simultaneous(ly)" with emergency medical teams called by Nguyen's neighbor, the complaint states.

Nguyen alleges that she suffered "loss of brain mass and function, loss of memory, loss of cognitive ability, loss of strength, loss of tissue, and loss of a significant portion of her cranium," and that her injuries could have been minimized if she had received immediate medical care.

Nguyen has filed a negligence claim against Seattle, its police department and the unknown officers who allegedly ignored Vo's confession.

She is represented by Leslie Clay Terry III of Bellevue, Wash.

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