By Evan Bush

The Seattle Times

A newspaper carrier shot while making early morning deliveries Saturday in Federal Way is “in so much pain,” but recovering at Harborview Medical Center, according to his girlfriend.

Travis Zimmerman, 39, was on the phone with his girlfriend, Amy Walker, just before 3 a.m. Saturday when he was shot, Walker said.

The shooting took place in the 31600 block of 37th Avenue Southwest, according to KIRO News.

Walker and Zimmerman were delivering newspapers in separate vehicles. They often spoke on the phone as they drove their routes.

Suddenly, Walker said, she heard Zimmerman begin to yell at someone.

“He sounded panicked. I’m not exactly sure what the situation was,” she said. “I heard him get out of his car and there were gunshots and then he was screaming for me to call the cops.”

Walker was driving with the couple’s two babies.

“I freaked out and called the police, and I went back to my warehouse where we get the newspapers from,” she said.

A few hours later, she arrived at Harborview to find her boyfriend sedated with “tubes down his throat.”

Gunshots struck Zimmerman’s legs, hip and face, Walker said. One bullet went through his jaw and is still lodged behind his ear, she said.

He was in satisfactory condition Monday, according to Harborview spokeswoman Susan Gregg.