Authorities say the suspect was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy after multiple 911 calls reported people being stabbed outside a home on the Key Peninsula.

GIG HARBOR, Wash. — A protection-order call on the Key Peninsula turned into one of the deadliest episodes the Gig Harbor area has seen in years when authorities say a 32-year-old man killed his mother and three other women on Feb. 24 before a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy shot him.

Investigators have identified the dead as Zoya Anatolyevna Shabliykina, 52; Joanne Kathleen Brandani, 59; Stephanie Killilea, 67; and Louise Sandra Talley, 81. Authorities said the suspect, Aleksandr Aleksandro Shablykin, arrived at his mother’s home in violation of a no-contact order that had not yet been served. The case now sits at the center of two overlapping questions: how a family conflict escalated into a public killing, and what records, warnings and prior court actions may show about the path to that morning.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the first call came in around 8:41 a.m. from the 14000 block of 87th Avenue Court NW, near Lake Kathryn in the Gig Harbor area. Deputies were told an adult man had come to a home despite a no-contact order. Before they arrived, deputies confirmed the order was not yet enforceable because it had not been served, then got a copy to serve him. But the case changed quickly. At about 9:30 a.m., the sheriff’s office said, witnesses began calling 911 to report that a man was stabbing people outside the home. A lone deputy reached the scene minutes later. Shots were reported at 9:33 a.m. By the end of the encounter, three victims and the suspect were dead at the scene, and a fourth victim who had been rushed away by Gig Harbor Fire later died. The sheriff’s office said the deputy opened fire while the suspect was still attacking people.

Authorities later said all four women died from multiple sharp force injuries. The medical examiner ruled each death a homicide. Shablykin died from multiple gunshot wounds. The women killed alongside Shabliykina were not random names to the surrounding community. Brandani and Killilea served on the Gig Harbor Arts Commission, a volunteer panel tied to city cultural work. Talley was remembered by local groups as a longtime volunteer with deep community connections. Investigators have said the three women appear to have intervened or been caught up while trying to help during the attack at or near the home. Some accounts from family members and local reporting indicate the women were in the area together that morning, with Talley heading to a doctor’s appointment. Authorities have not publicly released a step-by-step account of each victim’s final movements, and that remains one of the key gaps in the official timeline.

Records and family statements point to months of fear before the killings. Court documents cited by local media say Shabliykina obtained a yearlong protection order against her son in May 2025. In that filing, she described threats, emotional abuse and growing concern tied to mental health and substance use. One of the phrases later highlighted in reporting was a threat that her “grave” had already been dug. Family members have also said Shablykin had bipolar disorder and had stopped taking medication shortly before the killings. Those statements help explain the history behind the order, but they do not answer every unresolved question. It is still not clear whether the order deputies intended to serve on Feb. 24 was the same order granted the year before, a renewed order, or a related no-contact action arising from another proceeding. It is also not clear who first called authorities that morning or how long the suspect had been at the property before the attack moved outside.

The legal path is now unusual because the man identified as the attacker died at the scene, leaving no criminal case to be filed against a living defendant. That shifts the public process to records, investigative files and the review of the deputy’s use of force. The Pierce County Force Investigation Team took over the shooting review the same day. That team handles deadly-force incidents involving officers. Its work is expected to examine body-camera and scene evidence, witness statements, dispatch logs, medical examiner findings and the deputy’s decision to fire. Officials have not announced a date for a final public report. There is also no sign of a coming court hearing tied to homicide charges, because the suspect is dead. Instead, the next formal milestones are likely to come through investigative updates, records releases and any policy findings about service of protection orders, emergency response timing and communications between deputies and dispatchers in the hour before the violence.

In the days after the attack, grief widened from one family to an entire peninsula community. At a candlelight vigil in Gig Harbor on March 4, local officials, chaplains and residents described the four women as generous, steady figures in civic and volunteer life. Mayor Mary Barber said the community could not make sense of the tragedy. Volunteer chaplain Gary Rudd said the women were “well known in the community” and “well loved in the community,” language that captured how deeply their loss was felt beyond the immediate neighborhood. Posters with the women’s names and photographs stood beside flowers and candles as mourners gathered in silence and prayer. Family members also launched fundraising efforts for funeral costs and described the event as rooted in long-running mental health struggles. For residents near Wauna and Purdy, the violence shattered the routine of a quiet residential area and left a street known mainly to neighbors tied to a case that is now being discussed across Washington state.

More than a month later, the stabbings and deputy shooting remain under investigation, with no announced date for the force-investigation team’s findings. Public mourning has continued through vigils and memorials, while the next major development is expected to come from investigators’ release of a fuller timeline and review of the deputy’s actions.

Author note: Last updated March 26, 2026.