Buckley Man Arrested for Allegedly Setting Neighbor’s House on Fire

UPDATE: According to The Tacoma News Tribune, Lonnie Leroy Tate is now in custody. He never left Good Samaritan, it was a miscommunication.

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The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is searching for 52-year-old Lonnie Leroy Tate, a Buckley resident, who allegedly smashed in his neighbor’s windows and then set the house on fire on the 6800 block of 245th Ave. E.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Buckley home around 5:30 p.m. last evening, after Tate allegedly went into the home with a baseball bat breaking windows and making threats, then threw gasoline inside the house and lit it on fire.

According to the East Pierce Fire and Rescue Facebook page, firefighters arrived to contain the fire and were told to hold off until the Sheriff’s department could clear the scene. The Sheriff’s Department searched the wooded area with K-9 units. Deputies tazed him twice but he was able to break free.

Tate turned himself in to the Buckley Police Department later that evening and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment. He escaped custody sometime during the night.

Police searched the area with K-9 units but have been unable to locate him.