The city of Tacoma managed to be fairly quiet when it came to homicides this summer. Unfortunately, last Saturday we added one more killing to the year’s totals.
A little after 10 pm on Saturday night at 54-year-old Lawrence Howse arrived home at Sky Terrace. He entered the code for the secure parking garage and parked his black BMW. Before the garage door shut, two men slipped inside and confronted him and robbed him. Then one of the men shot Lawrence. The two men then left. Police believe they headed north on Broadway.
Around 10:30pm a passerby found Lawrence, called 911 and started administering CPR. Fire crews arrived shortly afterward and pronounced Lawrence dead on the scene.
Back in 1995 I lived on the second floor of Sky Terrace. It’s been through some renovations since then and converted from apartments to condominiums. It was a good place to live though, close to downtown Tacoma and the Stadium District shops. Each apartment has a balcony with a great view of the water.
Police say this was a crime of opportunity.
The two suspects are still out there. Crime Stoppers described the suspects as ‘two black males in their late teens or early 20’s with average builds. The first suspect was seen wearing a white shirt and dark pants, and had a light complexion. The second suspect was wearing a dark shirt, dark pants, and his hair may have been worn in an afro or short braids.’ Crime Stoppers is offering $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the killers.
Police spokeswoman Loretta Cool is asking anyone who saw anything suspicious Saturday night near South 4th and Broadway or Stadium Way to call 253-591-5968.
As always, the comments section is reserved for friends and family of the victim.
– Jack Cameron
UPDATE: 09/27/13 Tacoma Police have arrested two people in connection with the death of Larry Howse.
tacomastories.com 
This makes me sad. Three years ago I lived at Sky Terrace as one of the few renters in the building at the time amongst condo owners. We lived there for 2 years and really liked it and treated it with respect. To think that people slipped in while the garage door was closing gives me chills but its something I also always watched out for.
I wish the residents of Sky Terrace peace and I hope that they can pull together after this tragic event. There are many good people that live there. I wish Lawrence’s friends and family peace as well as they come to terms with this.
Larry was one of my great friends, I miss him dearly.. I am sad today.
I just now came across this 4-11-2015.
I worked with Larry and knew him as a friend and have been wondering why and where did he go. His cell number I had just when unanswered – but Larry would get busy and go for a while before you’d hear from him, but I’d never ever think anything like this would happened.
Rest in Peace Larry, your a really good guy.