In the early morning hours of July 24, 2021 Bud Morgan was in Wright Park. The 32-year-old had left his home finding the walls too confining and wanting desperately to get out, get away, just go. In recent years, Bud had started taking methamphetamines. It wasn’t something he was proud of and he preferred to deal with the addiction on his own. This particular night he ran into two young men. One of them had a gun. There was yelling. One man told the other to shoot. The gunshots woke up nearby neighbors, but it would not be until a couple hours later when a passerby found Bud’s body. Bud Morgan is the sixteenth Tacoma homicide of 2021.
The two men responsible for Bud’s death were caught a few weeks later using surveillance camera footage and images from social media.
Bud was a generous guy. He enjoyed helping people. It wouldn’t be uncommon for him to drop everything and do what he could to help someone in need. It’s easy for some to think that a drug addiction invalidates a person’s humanity, but the truth of it is, that those who turn to drugs are often the ones who care the most, who love the most, and who hurt the most. A person does not escape into drugs unless they have a feeling they want to escape from.
Bud’s death, like that of the woman killed hours earlier, was senseless and done with a callous disregard for the impact a death has on the families and friends of the victims.
As always the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew Bud and want to share thoughts or memories of him.
– Jack Cameron
tacomastories.com 
New Year. New Approach.
I started writing about Tacoma homicides in 2006 in an effort to honor those who have been taken from my hometown and to demonstrate that Tacoma was no longer the violent crime capital of the Northwest. That year we had 21 Tacoma homicides. The years after that we averaged 12-15 homicides a year. It was so easy to keep up that I added features to TacomaStories. I added 5 Question Friday where I interviewed local luminaries and small businesses. A few years ago my girlfriend and I started seeing what we could do for $20 as a date in Tacoma and that turned into Jack and Mimi’s Cheap Date.
In recent years as the violent crime rate has increased, I’ve run out of time to do those other features. In fact, as you can tell from my most recent updates, I’m not even able to keep up on the homicides. In 2021 we had 32 Tacoma homicides. In 2022 we had 45. What started out as something I could do in my spare time is now something I can’t do without dedicating some time to it.
So beginning tomorrow, Monday, January 2, 2023, I will write about a Tacoma homicide victim every Monday. Unfortunately, we’ve had so many homicides that even writing one every week will not have me caught up by this time next year. But I will be closer.
How close I’ll be by this time next year depends entirely on how many Tacoma homicides occur in 2023.
On another note, I plan on bringing back 5 Question Friday soon. If you know someone you believe should participate in 5 Question Friday or if you yourself have some Tacoma related thing you want to talk about, email me at jackcameronis@gmail.com.
Stay safe out there.
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