In the early morning hours of August 1st, 25-year-old Ty Jenkins was walking to his car in the Emerald Queen Casino’s South parking lot. Someone approached him and fired multiple shots, killing him. Tribal police were on the scene in minutes and saw someone running away, but the individual could not be located. Ty is the eighteenth Tacoma homicide this year.
Ty was from Las Vegas. He came from a loving and close family. He was an eldest son and a father. I wish that I could tell you more about what happened to him, but even months later, the facts of his death remain largely unknown or at least not revealed to the public. As Ty’s murder occurred on tribal land, the FBI is investigating the case.
Around 2am on July 11th, 23-year-old Benito Juarez Jr. was in the 3900 block of Ruston Way on Tacoma’s waterfront with a group of people. Ruston Way in the summer attracts crowds at all hours. On this particular night there were members of two gangs interacting. At some point one member of a gang thought a member of the other gang had disrespected them. A 17-year-old pulled out a gun and began firing. One bullet hit Benito Juarez in the forehead. Officers arrived on the scene minutes later as people got in their cars and left. Police performed CPR while paramedics arrived but they were unable to save Benito. Benito Juarez is the seventeenth Tacoma homicide this year.
Benito was a big guy with a big smile. He loved his family and his loss is something they all feel deeply. He was only 23-years-old. And there’s no telling what he could have offered the world in the future. That knowledge is stolen from us. But those who had him in their life are thankful for the time they had.
Around 4am on July 5th, a man came home to the house he shared with three others. Upon entering the home in the 1000 block of Pierce Street he found 31-year-old Jonna Hart and 34-year-old Megan Re both shot in the head. His other roommate, Jonna’s husband was nowhere to be found. The man called 9-1-1 and began attempting life-saving procedures, but it was no use. Jonna and Megan are the fifteenth and sixteenth Tacoma homicides this year.
Days later, Jonna’s Jeep would be found near the Narrows Bridge and her husband’s body would be found floating off of Vashon Island. His death was ruled a suicide.
I didn’t know Megan Re or her roommate, but Megan Re’s sister wrote the following after Megan’s death:
“Megan was a spitfire ball of energy, who lived every day full of love and light. She was hilarious and sarcastic but kind and so compassionate. She got oddball British humor and loved the weirdest anime shows, her music tastes were as eclectic and all inclusive as she was and she wanted to share that with everyone. She loved all animals except birds and bugs and fish but if it was furry she probably thought it was adorable. Megan could rock a sexy ass dress on the town or roll out of a tent in sweats in the woods and be as happy as a clam.
“And let’s not forget about how much she LOVED food! Haha most definitely a biproduct of working in the restaurant industry. Megan loved a well made meal and the type of food didn’t matter. She loved home cooked meals, BBQs, breakfasts food, desserts, any and all Asian dishes and everything Italian. She was all about a bomb breakfast, 2nd breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon snack or dinner. Any chance to grub down good food, visit with friends and support a local restaurant she was down. She’d take you out and buy you lunch with her last dollar. If she was too broke to go out she’d still want to visit though and invite you over to watch Netflix or listen to music and eat pizza rolls. That’s just the type of person she was.
“When she asked how you were she really cared to know the answer, it wasn’t just a filler phrase for her. Once you were family you were family for life with Megan. She was the ultimate nomad and wanderer, a Gypsy to the core, never content to stay put but always curious of the next horizon.
I can’t imagine my life without my big sister in it. She’s always been there. We were the “Re” sisters and inseparable for the longest time. She was my first best friend, my partner in crime, the Marian to my Robin Hood as kids, the person who taught me about my period, boys, makeup and how to handle so much stuff in life, my first fighting partner (and whew did we go rounds at times) but as adults it didn’t matter how long it had been since we talked a few days or a few weeks it was the same old familiar routine.”
As always the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew and loved Megan and want to share their thoughts or memories of her.
Around 4am on July 5th, a man came home to the house he shared with three others. Upon entering the home in the 1000 block of Pierce Street he found 31-year-old Jonna Hart and 34-year-old Megan Re both shot in the head. His other roommate, Jonna’s husband was nowhere to be found. The man called 9-1-1 and began attempting life-saving procedures, but it was no use. Jonna and Megan are the fifteenth and sixteenth Tacoma homicides this year.
Days later, Jonna’s Jeep would be found near the Narrows Bridge and her husband’s body would be found floating off of Vashon Island. His death was ruled a suicide.
We may never know the motivations for the two murders. What we do know is that three sets of family and friends will never be the same.
Jonna Hart was originally from Idaho, but she tended to move around a lot. She was someone who sought adventure and fun. She was not someone to sit still. And her presence is one that will be missed by her loved ones.
As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew Jonna and want to share thoughts or memories of her.
In the early morning hours of June 6th, about 40 minutes after police found David Eugene Johnson dead from gunshot wounds in the 5500 block of South Washington Street, police were called to a vehicle in the 700 block of Huson where they found two more men suffering from gunshot wounds. The 42-year-old driver had non-life-threatening injuries. His 18-year-old passenger was 18-year-old Alfred T. Nelson. He was already dead when the police arrived. Police were able to link them to the original crime sense where Johnson lost his life. Alfred T. Nelson is the fourteenth Tacoma homicide this year.
I wasn’t able to find much about Alfred online. I’m sad to see that yet another teenager has been murdered. When we lose people not even out of their teens yet we lose all the possibilities of who and what they can be. They never even had a chance to show us. Any loss of life is a tragedy, but the loss of a child is especially painful.
As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for friends and family of Alfred who want to share thoughts or memories of him. If you have a photo of Alfred that you’d like me to include in this article, please email me at jackcameronis@gmail.com
In the first hours of Saturday, June 6th, police received calls of shots fired in a parking lot in the 5500 block of South Washington Street. David Eugene Johnson was bouncing there. There had been a fight inside the club. He and two others had managed to separate the two groups, but when they got out into the parking lot the fight started up again. There were were over 40 shots fired. Somehow only David was fatally hit. David Eugene Johnson or ‘Jay’ as some called him was the thirteenth Tacoma homicide of 2020. He was five days short of his twenty-ninth birthday.
Though police questioned many people in regards David’s murder many, including David’s employer where he was a bouncer were less than cooperative and at this time the case remains open and unsolved.
David was the father of three. One son, and two daughters. Nothing gave him more delight than to watch their faces light up on Christmas morning. He was a funny guy, often injecting humor into situations whenever he could. By all accounts, he was someone who really enjoyed life.
Just a couple of years ago twelve homicides would have been our total for the year. Now we reach that in half the time. As of this writing, David’s murder remains unsolved and the details of his death remain sketchy.
As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew David and who want to share thoughts or memories of him.
Nelvin Tucker was a religious and generous man. At 51 years old he was a father to two grown children and grandfather to one. When he encountered a 27-year-old man who needed a place to stay, he let the man stay at his apartment at 5102 S. 58th Street. By May 8th, the man had outworn his welcome. He was playing loud music while Nelvin had his daughter over. Nelvin scolded the man saying he was being disrespectful and told him not for the first time that he needed to move out and not come back. Later in the evening neighbors heard a couple of pops. They looked out the peephole of their door and saw Nelvin’s roommate leaving while tucking something into the pocket of his hoody. The neighbors knocked on the door and after a short time Nelvin managed to answer the door though he had been shot. He said his roommate’s name and asked the neighbors to call his daughter. The neighbors called 9-1-1. Nelvin was transported to Tacoma General Hospital where he died from his wounds becoming the twelfth homicide this year.
Nelvin’s daughter called the roommate after learning her father had been shot. The roommate claimed to have heard the shots as he left and did not say where he was or return further phone calls. Tacoma police found and arrested him after a short manhunt.
By all accounts Nelvin was a generous and happy guy. His friends called him Poodie Man. His smile was infectious and if there was a hoop anywhere nearby you could bet Nelvin would be playing basketball. He was the sort of person you looked forward to seeing. For those who knew him there is now a hole in their lives that can never be filled because Nelvin is gone.
As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for family and friends of Nelvin who want to share any thoughts or memories of Nelvin Tucker. Also for those who were unable to attend Nelvin’s funeral it is available online at this link.
On April 3rd 28-year-old Kelsea Michelle Carlson logged onto her incarcerated father’s social media account looking for a buyer for the half pound of methamphetamine she was looking to sell. After finding a seller, shortly before midnight, three men showed up to the apartment she shared with her 33-year-old fiancé in the 1400 block of South Union Ave. One of the men said that something wasn’t right about the deal and pulled a pistol. He shot Kelsea multiple times and shot her fiancé twice in the leg. The three men then left. One left behind his cellphone. Kelsea’s fiancé called 9-1-1 and told them to hurry. By the time first responders arrived, Kelsea had died from her wounds. Her fiancé survived, but had to have surgery on his leg.
Kelsea is the eleventh Tacoma homicide this year and the second drug related murder in a week. There is a certain portion of the population who do not care about drug related murders. It’s easy to be callous right up until the point where you realize that every homicide victim has friends and family who will never be the same thanks to their loved one being stolen from them. In Kelsea’s case, she has a young daughter who is now going to grow up never knowing her mother. The thing people tend to forget about homicides is that the person who was murdered is only one of many victims of the crime.
Kelsea’s family has set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay for her funeral expenses.
As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew Kelsea and want to share any thoughts or memories of her.
It was near 11pm on March 31st when 28-year-old Dante Robinson was shot to death in an apartment in the 1800 block of South 15th Street. He sustained one gunshot wound. Officers arrived and performed CPR, but Dante died on the scene. Despite my writing this nearly six month later, this is literally all the information I’ve been able to find about Dante Robinson’s death.
Dante Robinson is the tenth Tacoma homicide this year and the seventh Tacoma homicide in the month of March. Just a few years ago six homicides would have been half a year’s worth of homicides in Tacoma.
Dante was born in Kissimmee, Florida and joined the Army directly after high school and was deployed to Afghanistan for six months. After that he served out the next two and a half years at JBLM, near Tacoma. He was the father of a daughter and a son. Dante was known for being a quiet and gentle presence. He was a practicing Christian and active in his church and had a very loving family.
The comments section is moderated by me and reserved for friends and family of Dante who would like to share thoughts or memories of him.
On the evening of March 25th, 21-year-old Deon McGhee told a 28-year-old acquaintance he had met that day through a friend that he could get him some Xanax for $300. The man agreed and got into a car with Deon driving and Deon’s uncle in the backseat. The man transferred $300 electronically to Deon, but Deon didn’t see it in his account and asked the man to do it again. The man did this a total of three times, transferring a total of $900 to Deon’s account. The man then stabbed Deon in the neck. The car crashed in the 1000 block of North Villard Street. Upon impact the three men ran in three different directions. Deon stumbled to a nearby porch and sat. Police arrived and tried CPR. Paramedics showed up, but Deon died before he arrived at the hospital becoming the ninth Tacoma homicide this year.
Deon’s alleged killer was arrested and charged with first degree murder shortly after.
I was unable to find much information on Deon McGhee beyond his activities on the final day of his life. At 21-years of age he was too young for anyone to know what sort of person he might have ended up becoming. What we know is that Tacoma has lost another young resident to homicidal violence. I know there are those who will just dismiss this as another drug deal gone wrong and ignore the tragedy of the loss of life, but personally I subscribe to the theory that everyone is more than their worst actions. And having written about Tacoma homicides of all sorts of individuals over the year, I can say with certainty that every single person has someone who loves them and someone who will never be the same if that person is taken from them.
As always, the comments section is reserved for friends and family of Deon McGhee who might want to share thoughts or memories of him. And if you have a photo of him you’d like to share, please email it to me at jackcameornis@gmail.com.
