Community Police & Fire

Victim in stabbing near Wauna had protection order against her son

A woman killed in a stabbing at a house near Wauna on Tuesday, Feb. 24, had been granted protection orders against her adult son twice in the past five years.

Various media reports this week identified the woman, 52-year-old Zoya Shablykina, as one of five people who died at a home on 87th Avenue Court NW.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has not confirmed the identities of any of the five victims who died at a home near Lake Kathryn on Tuesday.

But news outlets — including the Seattle Times, The News Tribune, TV station KING 5 and others — spoke with family members who confirmed Shablykina was among the victims.

Public records indicate Shablykina lived at the address on 87th Avenue Court where law enforcement responded to reports of a stabbing in progress on Tuesday.

Her son, Alexandr A. Shablykin, also was among those killed, according to media reports. A Pierce County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot and killed the man who had stabbed the other four victims.

Un-served order

Shablykina requested protection orders against her son in late 2020 and again in spring 2025. Pierce County courts granted the orders in January 2021 and in May 2025.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the incident on Tuesday initially began as a reported violation of a no-contact order. Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Deputy Carly Cappetto said in a video from the scene that “deputies confirmed the order was not valid since it had not been served yet” to Shablykin, who was 32 years old.

Deputies were on their way to the 87th Avenue Court house to serve the order when new 911 callers reported the stabbings.

It’s not clear if Cappetto was referring to the May 2025 domestic violence protection order. It would be unusual for an order issued by a judge nearly 10 months ago to have not been served yet. However, the Pierce County Superior Court system does not list a more recent order involving Shablykin and Shablykina.

Son believed ‘he is a God’

Shablykin suffered from extensive mental health issues, according to statements his mother made while applying for the protection orders. He also had a history of violence against his family.

Shablykina’s statement in her 2020 protection order application, which is a public record, indicates that Shablykin threatened his sister with a knife because he didn’t like having her boyfriend at the house.

She told the court that her son “threatened everyone in my family” and believed that “he is a God.”

Pierce County Court Commissioner Karen Watson granted that order on Jan. 21, 2021. It remained in effect for one year.

Watson also granted Shablykina’s protection order request on May 5, 2025.

In the 2025 application, Shablykina reported that Alexandr had recently told her that “your grave has already been dug up.”

Notes in court documents indicate that Alexandr “has been having escalating mental health issues which include grandiosity, auditory hallucinations and command hallucinations. … His current command hallucinations tell him he is a God and that petitioner must obey him.”

Shablykina’s application says that “Alexandr has been threatening me, abusing me both mentally and emotionally. Doing witchcraft/occult behavior and doing rituals in my home. Damaging personal belongings. Hurting my cat. Thinks (he is) an Egyptian God!”

Barred from contact

The protection order required Shabylkin to stay at least 1,000 feet away from her home, workplace and vehicle. It barred him from possessing any “dangerous weapons.”

The order also required him to follow a “treatment plan that was put in place when he left St. Joseph Hospital to include medication compliance.”

Standard language in the order notes that “the restrained person must be served with a service packet, including a copy of this order.”

The order designates the Tacoma Police Department as “the law enforcement agency where the restrained person lives or can be served.” It orders police to “promptly complete and return proof of service to this court.”

The order allows “alternative service” via cell phone. A process server previously had contacted Shabylkin by phone about the protection order hearing, which he did not attend.