COVINGTON, Wash. – A 67-year-old King County grandmother shot during an attempted robbery at an ATM wants you to see what happened to her as a warning to always be on alert when using the machine.
She’s preparing to face the shooter in court when he’s sentenced on Friday.
“How painful is this right now, walking? Umm… it’s painful,” Tina Rothert told FOX 13 Seattle when we met her at that very ATM this week. “Right here is one bullet wound, there’s another bullet wound. I have another here […] I have eight wounds because of entry and exit, plus one of the bullets that struck my leg broke my femur and fragmented. So, some of the fragments came out.”
It’s been 19 months since Rothert was shot three times during a robbery attempt, twice in her left thigh and once in her stomach.
She’s in physical therapy twice a week.
“I can’t walk very far without the use of an aid, a little bit more than I was six months ago, but very limited,” said Rothert.
Grandmother shot during ATM robbery
The backstory:
On April 5, 2024, Rothert stopped at the ATM in Covington, Washington to deposit a check. She had just put her card in the machine when two 20-year-olds, Tryse Phommavongxay and Kolby Delamar, approached her.
“They said, ‘Take $1,000 out of the machine. You’re going to give me $1,000 right now.’ And I said, ‘I can’t take $1,000,’” Tina recalled.
Tina said she tried to explain to Tryse that her bank has a limit on withdrawals.
“He was having no part of it. He says, ‘I know you can, and you’re gonna do it right now,’” Tina recalled, “and I said, ‘No, I can’t.’ And he shoved me out of the way.”
Delamar held her at gunpoint.
“And somehow, somewhere, I managed to yell, ‘Help me.’ Don’t ask me how, I just know it came out. And as soon as I said that, he turned. And fired,” said Rothert. “I think he was just angry because he didn’t get the money and things didn’t go the way he wanted and he was mad. It was very obvious he was angry.”
Tina fell back to the ground, and the ATM camera shows Tryse jump at the sound of gunfire and the two of them race away. They took off in a silver Nissan Sentra.
A nearby store worker heard the gunfire and raced to help stop the bleeding.
Rothert’s 10-year-old granddaughter was in the car and saw everything.
The other side:
“I know that Haylee has got some serious anxiety with all of this,” said Rothert.
Rothert said she had not returned to the ATM since the shooting, and being back was a strange feeling.
“My back is to the ATM, but I have also been doing physical therapy right down there for the last 19 months,” said Rothert. “So it’s what my therapist calls, you know, ‘conditional exposure,’ which helps you get over some of the trauma.”
Tina’s path to recovery has been paved with pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Fireworks, cars backfiring, popping balloons — Fourth of July was two weeks of hell, for lack of a better word,” said Rothert.
King County Sheriff’s detectives were able to get a license plate number for the suspects’ car, which they learned belonged to Tryse — and led to the arrest of both suspects. Tina says she believes Tryse is remorseful. He pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance and was sentenced in August to a year in custody. Delamar pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and first-degree attempted robbery.
We asked Rothert if she believes Delamar’s plea deal for 12 years in prison feels like justice. She says ‘no.’
So why settle, then?
“Because I need this over, I need to get it. We’re looking at 19 months with a deal. We aren’t even close to going to trial. How long would that be? And do I want to look at him every day, [and] for how long?” Tina explained. “I was 10 feet away from him maybe at the plea hearing, and that was very unnerving for me. I don’t want to see him anymore. I want this over. I need to be able to move on with my life, and get this behind me.”
Tina is planning to give a five-page victim impact statement at Delamar’s sentencing on Friday.
Why you should care:
“I have a lot to say. I want them to know that, no matter how horrible your childhood is, these kind of crimes are not excusable. I want to tell them that this federal youthful offender consideration law is not something that is helping, it is enabling. And until[…] These criminals, especially of violent crimes, start getting held accountable for their actions. Things are not going to change. They’re going to continue to get worse. And if that gun was just supposed to be a scare tactic, it shouldn’t have had any bullets in it.”
She’s also hoping her message sinks in with the courts that victim’s rights should come first. She’s already been told that Kolby will have numerous speakers pleading for leniency.
“The defendant has pled [sic] guilty to both felonies. However, he gets the same amount of court time on Friday that I do, and that makes no sense to me, because why does his team need to speak if he’s already pled [sic] guilty?” Rothert asked. “Why do they need the same amount of time that I do? It’s not fair.”
Tina will have her own group of supporters there as well. She says she will never use any ATM again, and wants what happened to her to serve as a warning to others.
“I have used that machine for more years than I can count, more times than I count. Never thought twice about it,” said Rothert. “Clearly now you do have to think twice about it, doesn’t matter what kind of neighborhood you’re in.”
What’s next:
FOX 13 Seattle will be at the sentencing hearing on friday and we will bring you details and the judge’s decision on his sentence.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle anchor David Rose.
David.Rose@fox.com (David Rose)
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