Seattle sound engineer fatally shot as he tried to enter wrong motel
room

By Nick Perry Seattle Times staff reporter

More details emerged Sunday in the bizarre shooting death of renowned
local sound engineer Tom Pfaeffle.

Pfaeffle, 49, who had worked with music groups that include Nirvana,
The Black Crowes and Heart, owned and operated The Tank, a recording
studio adjacent to his home in the woods of Black Diamond. He also
worked as an instructor at the Art Institute of Seattle, teaching
audio production.

He is survived by a wife and four children.

Pfaeffle was killed Friday at the Blue Spruce Motel in Twisp. Twisp
Police Chief Rick Balam said Pfaeffle and his wife were in town to
attend a birthday party when it appeared the couple inadvertently
returned to the wrong room at about 10:40 p.m.

Pfaeffle apparently was trying to put his key into Unit 7 when a man
inside shot at him, the chief said.

Pfaeffle and his wife managed to retreat and take cover behind a car
in the parking lot, Balam said. Emergency crews later took Pfaeffle to
the Mid-Valley Hospital in Omak, where he died about two hours after
the shooting.

Balam said the shooter also fired a bullet that nearly hit a man in
adjacent Unit 6. That bullet tore through the wall and a mirror.

A man in his late 70s was lying on his bed at the time, reading a
newspaper with the television on, the police chief said. He was
injured from falling debris, suffering a black eye.

When Balam arrived, he was able to speak to the suspect, a 57-year-old
Seattle man, by phoning him from the manager's office. Balam said he
was quickly able to persuade the man to leave his unit and surrender.

The man is to be arraigned today on charges of second-degree murder
and assault.

Balam said the man could not reasonably argue he was defending himself
against potential intruders: "He had a total disregard for human
safety," Balam said. "It's just crazy."

Family friend and Art Institute colleague Jim Rivers said Pfaeffle's
wife told him it took nearly two hours for an ambulance to arrive at
the remote town and get Pfaeffle to Omak. Rivers said Pfaeffle was
conscious and talking the whole time.

Rivers said his understanding is that one bullet struck Pfaeffle in
the arm, the other in his kidney and liver. Omak hospital staff were
preparing to airlift Pfaeffle to Spokane or Seattle when he died,
Rivers said, apparently due to the amount of blood he'd lost.

"He was one of the most honest, caring guys I know," Rivers said. "He
was a great dad. You just can't believe that this happened to him."

Steve Barsotti, the academic director of the Art Institute's audio
program, said Pfaeffle was an intense, driven man who essentially
worked two full-time jobs.

"He had the utmost respect from all of his students," Barsotti said.
"He earned his respect day to day, in the way he treated his students,
his complete control over the content of the program and his
professionalism."

Barsotti said Pfaeffle also was a great cook who loved to make sushi.
He would sometimes unwind by playing guitar.

"He never sat still," Barsotti said. "He never stopped learning."

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

Guess what? One of them has survived.

Would that have happened with a gun? Nope.

He thought he had killed them both.

Bullets to the head would have made it for sure.

Glad he had a knife instead. 100% improvement on mortality rate.

"jps" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

Guess what? One of them has survived.

Would that have happened with a gun? Nope.

He thought he had killed them both.

Bullets to the head would have made it for sure.

Glad he had a knife instead. 100% improvement on mortality rate.

Much more likely to die from a knife wound than a gun shot.

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:55:25 -0700, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"jps" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

Guess what? One of them has survived.

Would that have happened with a gun? Nope.

He thought he had killed them both.

Bullets to the head would have made it for sure.

Glad he had a knife instead. 100% improvement on mortality rate.

Much more likely to die from a knife wound than a gun shot.

Right. Cite please.

"jps" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:55:25 -0700, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"jps" wrote in message
. ..
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

Guess what? One of them has survived.

Would that have happened with a gun? Nope.

He thought he had killed them both.

Bullets to the head would have made it for sure.

Glad he had a knife instead. 100% improvement on mortality rate.

Much more likely to die from a knife wound than a gun shot.

Right. Cite please.

Look it up. Most gunshot victims survive. Startling is it not? I was
taught this is the military silent weapons course. A knife wound, and I am
not meaning the nicked your hand with the knife while cutting apples, causes
massive bleeding. You die before they get you stabilized.

On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:36:30 -0400, Gene Kearns
wrote:

The fact that this study is flawed is found in the assertion "The
distribution of wounds is different for knife assaults and gun
assaults, since victims of knife assaults have more chance to dodge
and block," which is ridiculously untrue.

For those with proper training, inside of about 10 feet, I'll take the
knife and you can have the gun. I'll never lose and you'll never see
the knife.

Ahem - without getting into specifics, you are absoutely 100% correct.

On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:36:30 -0400, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:53:47 -0700, jps penned the following well
considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

|On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:55:25 -0700, "Calif Bill"
wrote:
|
|
|"jps" wrote in message
...
| On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
| wrote:
|
|just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.
|
|http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi
|
| Guess what? One of them has survived.
|
| Would that have happened with a gun? Nope.
|
| He thought he had killed them both.
|
| Bullets to the head would have made it for sure.
|
| Glad he had a knife instead. 100% improvement on mortality rate.
|
|Much more likely to die from a knife wound than a gun shot.
|
|Right. Cite please.

It is a debatable point with no clear answers.... and I think the
*real* answer lies in statistics garnered from countries where knives
are more prevalent than guns.

The fact that this study is flawed is found in the assertion "The
distribution of wounds is different for knife assaults and gun
assaults, since victims of knife assaults have more chance to dodge
and block," which is ridiculously untrue.

For those with proper training, inside of about 10 feet, I'll take the
knife and you can have the gun. I'll never lose and you'll never see
the knife.

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/1993...ives-00000.php

Oh for ****'s sake Gene, you're assuming whomever is weidling the
knife is an expert.

Flawed logic.

The guy in this case obviously meant to kill both women but left one
alive. Sound like a knife expert to you? Neither of the women were
armed from what I understand.

Any dweeb with two hands and an arse can put a bullet through
someone's skull at close range. What's the chance of survival?

On Jul 22, 12:01*am, jps wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

Guess what? *One of them has survived.

Here more than one survived

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12753608

Would that have happened with a gun? *Nope.

There was a gun used and more survived than were killed.

He thought he had killed them both.

He was wrong.

Bullets to the head would have made it for sure.

Even though you might be speaking from experience, it isn't
necessarily the case.

Glad he had a knife instead. *100% improvement on mortality rate.

You may be glad, but I'm sorry any of it happened.

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:36:04 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

just today. the victim was from St. Louis Mo.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/40830...ml?source=mypi

Damn shame one of the women didn't get a pistol from under the pillow
and blow his ass away.

Then jps could have something to whine about.

--

John H