Monthly Archives: December 2018

15th Tacoma Homicide of 2018: LaMont ‘Monty’ Rushton

Posted on December 30, 2018 | 1 comment

james rushton

44-year-old LaMont ‘Monty’ Rushton had been homeless for a while, but like most homeless individuals he was trying to get it together. His six-year-old son was being raised by Monty’s mother. He wanted to get him back. He thought that maybe he would go up to Alaska and work on a fishing boat. Dangerous work, but everyone knew stories of someone who knew someone who went there for a season and came back with thousands. Maybe he’d make friends up there. He was a friendly guy. People tended to like him. This was just temporary.

It was Thursday, December 14th, a little after 11:30pm in downtown Tacoma. Monty was walking near South 26th and A Street when he spotted a young man taking a smoke break and asked him for a smoke. The young man handed him a smoke. Monty thanked the young man and walked on until he was confronted by a 29-year-old man. It was dark. The young man was at least 30 feet away. He heard Monty say, “Please don’t.” It appeared to the young man like the other man had challenged Monty to a fight and Monty had declined. Monty wasn’t a fighter. The other man ran away.

Monty headed towards the young man asking for help. Not realizing Monty was injured the young man initially ignored him. When he got closer the young man realized Monty had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and leg. The young man and his coworkers contacted paramedics and tried to help him, but Monty died a half hour after getting to the hospital becoming Tacoma’s fifteenth homicide this year.

A few days later, Monty’s killer was arrested at a nearby homeless camp. A large knife was found in the man’s tent. This is the second homeless killing in downtown Tacoma in the last month. And with any luck, the last killing this year.

As always, the comments section is reserved for friends and family of Monty to share memories or thoughts about Monty. All comments are moderated and approved before they appear.

– Jack

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13th & 14th Tacoma Homicides of 2018: Evitan De Biaso & Deonte Mitchner

Posted on December 25, 2018 | 7 comments
Evitan De Biaso
Deonte Mitchner

The plan seemed simple enough. A 16-year-old offered to sell a gun to a 13-year-old he smoked pot with a few weeks ago. The deal was to go down December 9th. The 16-year-old had no gun to sell. He was bringing three friends with him and they were going to rob the kid. According to charging papers, two of those friends were 19-year-old Evitan De Biaso and 21-year-old Deonte Mitchner. The third friend stayed in the car with Deonte’s two young children. Evitan and Deonte hid in bushes in an alley near the 1300 block of East 35th street.

Things did not go according to plan. The 16-year-old led the 13-year-old to the ambush, but the 13-year-old brought a friend. When Evitan and Deonte jumped out, the 13-year-old ran with the 16-year-old chasing him. The 16-year-old heard gunshots and knew that neither of his friends had guns. Around 4:50pm Tacoma police found both Evitan and Deonte dead of gunshot wounds. Evitan and Deonte become the thirteenth and fourteenth Tacoma homcides this year. The 16-year-old and the driver have been arrested. The unidentified shooter remains at large. People with knowledge of the incident are asked to call the Tacoma Police Department at 253-591-5968.

If TacomaStories has a theme it is to echo Bryan Stevenson’s “We are more than the worst things we’ve done.” Evitan and Deonte were more than these actions. Both had loving, caring families. Deonte has a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old who will never spend another Christmas with their father. It’s all too easy to judge and discard other people. We do not do that here. I know I have said it before, but every loss of life creates a hole in the lives of countless others.

As always the comments section is reserved for the friends and family of Evitan and Deonte who might want to share any thoughts or memories of them. All comments are moderated and approved before appearing.
– Jack

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Twelfth Tacoma Homicide of 2018: Antonio Douglas

Posted on December 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

Antonio Douglas

It was just after 11pm on December 4th. Some teenagers had pulled off the road in the 3700 block of Marine View Drive in Northeast Tacoma. They were smoking marijuana and passing around a stolen pistol. Seventeen-year-old was in the driver’s seat of the Toyota Camry. He pulled the clip out of the gun and handed it to his 17-year-old friend in the back. Charging papers say the friend told them that Antonio told him the gun was empty. His friend pointed the gun at the driver’s seat and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the seat, through, Antonio’s arm and into his torso. Antonio opened the driver’s side door and fell out of the car. The others in the car drove him to his Aunt’s house. When his aunt saw that he had been shot, she told them to take him to the hospital. Antonio later died at the hospital becoming Tacoma’s twelfth homicide this year.

I was not able to find much online about Antonio. He was seventeen years old. So is his friend. His friend’s life will never be the same and Antonio’s life has ended long before it should have. The tragedy of this is as obvious as it is painful. While the tragedy is most felt by friends and family of Antonio, this is a tragedy for all of us because we will never get to see what Antonio could have been. Antonio’s friend has been arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter.

This is the very definition of a homicide that should not have happened. If they hadn’t been playing with a gun, if his friend would have checked for a bullet in the chamber of the pistol, maybe if they’d driven him directly to the hospital, maybe if they hadn’t been smoking marijuana. There are a hundred things we could point at and say it shouldn’t have happened, but none of that changes the reality of the situation. We lost a child. And that matters. I write about these homicides so they will be remembered. We can’t save Antonio, but we can remember him, remember what happened, and hope it doesn’t happen again.

As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for friends and family of Antonio who might want to share any thoughts or memories about it.
– Jack Cameron

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