Monthly Archives: December 2016

Wednesday in the Park #4: Baltimore Park

Posted on December 7, 2016 | Leave a comment

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Which Park?  Baltimore Park

Who Or What Is It Named After? Baltimore Street

Where Is It? 4716 N. Baltimore Street

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Child Area? Yes

Bathroom? No

Amenities? Basketball Court

Overview:

At just under two and a half acres, Baltimore Park is the smallest park I have visited so far for these articles. In fact if you are driving down Baltimore Street towards the water you may notice as much of it is behind a large flat building that is the Ruston Senior Center.

Baltimore Park has been around since 1981. The play area for the children takes up a small corner of the park. It appears to be for smaller children. There big toys with tiny steps and a swing set.

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In another corner of the park you’ll find a paved basketball court with two hoops.

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The rest of the park consists of an occasionally tree-lined gravel trail around a large, flat grass field. The field would be perfect for kite-flying, playing soccer, or sun bathing. Of course since it is close to winter right now, none of that was happening during my visit.

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As parks go, Baltimore Park is about as basic a park as you can get. Nothing particularly good or bad about it. And with Point Defiance nearby this park is definitely a neighborhood park. If you’re here, you probably live in the area or you’re from the attached senior center or the VFW Hall across the street.

– Jack Cameron

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Next: Brown’s Point Lighthouse Park

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Seventeenth Tacoma Homicide of 2016: Bruce Randall Johnson II

Posted on December 5, 2016 | 1 comment

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38-year-old Bruce Randall Johnson II did not have a good day on November 30th. He had been fired from his job as a barber and Sam & Terry’s barber shop up on Tacoma’s Hilltop where he had worked for the last eight months. He had gotten into an argument with his wife in which he had locked her out of the house they shared in the 400 block of East 52nd Street. When police knocked on the door he did not answer. When the landlord unlocked the door, he and his two children, an eight-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son, were on the third floor. When a police officer came up the stairs, Bruce opened fire, killing him.

It is unknown what exactly caused Bruce to behave the way he did on November 30th. In recent weeks friends and coworkers say he had become increasingly volatile. In mid-November he was spotted dressed as a plainclothes police officer at the Tacoma Mall, wearing a Sheriff’s cap and carrying a rifle case. He had been fired from the barbershop for altercations with customers and disagreements with staff.

Multiple people who knew him called said that Bruce was ‘troubled’. We will likely never know the mental state he was in or what caused him to take the actions that he did. We do know that there were people who enjoyed his company.

During the eleven hour standoff, Bruce would refuse to leave the house, at times using his children as human shields, at other times firing his guns at unknown targets. At one point his son was near the front door and a SWAT team member removed him from the house. Near 3:30am, a Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy outside the house fired one round through a window killing Bruce Johnson.

Bruce Johnson is the seventeenth Tacoma homicide this year and the second police involved shooting this year. TacomaStories treats police involved shootings like we treat any other homicides. This is because we operate under the concept that no one should be judged by their worst actions alone.

As always the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew Bruce and want to share thoughts of memories of him.

If a family member or friend has a different photo they would like me to use for this site, you can send it to jackcameronis@gmail.com.

– Jack Cameron

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Sixteenth Tacoma Homicide of 2016: Reginald “Jake” Gutierrez

Posted on December 5, 2016 | Leave a comment

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Ask most police officers and they will tell you that the most dangerous calls are Domestic Violence calls. For this reason at least two officers must respond to any Domestic Violence call. 45-year-old Tacoma Police Officer Reginald “Jake” Gutierrez had responded to hundreds of these calls in his 17 years in the Department. When it came to domestic disputes Jake was known as someone with a lot of success in deescalating situations. On the afternoon of November 30th, Jake and another officer responded to a call at a three-story house in the 400 block of East 52nd Street.

An animal control officer had encountered a very upset woman. Her husband had locked her out of the house. The animal control officer contacted the police. Jake and his partner knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

They contacted the landlord to get a key. The landlord knocked on the door saying they were going to unlock the door. Jake started going up the stairs to talk to the man and check on the couple’s two children, a six-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter. Jake yelled, “Get out!” to his partner and the man’s wife as three shots were fired, followed by three more.

Jake was hit multiple times. His partner returned fire and got the man’s wife out of harm’s way. Jake would later die at Tacoma General Hospital. After an 11-hour stand-off the man responsible for his death was killed by a Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy.

Officer Reginald “Jake” Gutierrez is the 16th Tacoma homicide this year and the 11th officer to die in the line of duty in the history of the Tacoma Police Department. This is the first TPD officer killing since I started TacomaStories back in 2006.  The last one was in 1997.

Jake spent most of his career on Tacoma’s East Side in the same neighborhood he gave his life protecting. He would attend community meetings. Many locals knew him by name. He had three children, a grandchild, and he was engaged to be married. By all accounts Officer Reginald “Jake” Gutierrez was the textbook definition of a good cop.

Jake had a quick wit and could be very funny. His demeanor helped him defuse tense situations. Colleagues say that on a domestic violence call, Jake was the officer you wanted with you. He will be missed by his brothers and sisters in uniform, his friends, his family, and this city he chose to serve.

As always the comments section is moderated. All comments must be approved. The comment section is reserved for those who knew Jake and want to share thoughts or memories of him.

– Jack Cameron

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