Tacoma man had just bought a coffee when stranger shot him dead in the street, police say
A 22-year-old man was charged Monday for the murder of a man shot to death last month in a Tacoma intersection. Charging documents offered new details on what led up to the fatal shooting, but a motive remains unclear.
Kevin O’Neal Harvey Jr. was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree murder for the Sept. 5 fatal shooting of 42-year-old Papaloa Sauileone.
At arraignment Monday afternoon, pleas of not guilty were entered on Harvey’s behalf. Court records show he doesn’t have a criminal history in Pierce County.
Charging documents don’t indicate any connection between the defendant and Sauileone. The early-morning shooting at the corner of East 72nd and I Streets appears to have been random. Detectives used surveillance video, traffic cameras, social media, cell phone and vehicle records to identify Harvey as the alleged shooter.
During Harvey’s arraignment, a staff member from the Freedom Project, Eugene Youngblood, addressed the court. The Freedom Project is a Renton-based nonprofit that works to “dismantle the institution of mass incarceration and heal its traumatic effects,” according to its website. Youngblood said the organization has worked with Harvey for four months and helped him enroll in Tacoma Community College before his arrest.
Youngblood requested that Harvey be released on his personal recognizance. Commissioner Philip Thorton set bail at $1 million.
The victim’s sister previously told The News Tribune that her brother was a big-hearted man. Sauileone left behind a wife and six children. Several relatives of the victim attended Harvey’s arraignment. Outside the courtroom, they said they were still feeling left in the dark about why this happened to Sauileone.
Records say Sauileone bought a coffee at a gas station on 72nd, then walked one block and crossed I Street. Surveillance footage reportedly shows a green Chevy Malibu drive up to that corner. Sauileone stood at the passenger side of the vehicle for about 30 seconds, then ran south onto the street and collapsed.
The Chevy drove away, and a Tacoma Fire Department crew spotted the victim in the street about a minute later, at 5:13 a.m. According to the probable cause document, Sauileone suffered gunshot wounds to the head and groin. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Harvey was the only person in the Chevy, records say. Before the victim left the gas station, the defendant allegedly drove the vehicle through the business’ parking lot, then went across the street and stopped at a car-wash stall occupied by a GMC truck.
Harvey allegedly asked the truck’s driver, “What’s up, got any blues?”
The driver later told police he thought the man was trying to sell him Fentanyl pills. The truck driver told the man he didn’t do “blues,” and Harvey drove off.
Detectives were able to tie the Chevy to Harvey about a week after the shooting. According to the probable cause document, a traffic camera on East McKinley Avenue, about two miles north of where the shooting occurred, captured video of the vehicle at about 5:01 a.m. Detectives determined it was registered to Harvey in Tacoma.
The vehicle was located Sept. 27 at a residence in Spanaway. It had a defect on it resembling a bullet hole, and records say it would be in line with one of the victim’s gunshot wounds.
When Harvey was arrested Oct. 7, his girlfriend was transported to Tacoma Police Department headquarters to be interviewed, according to the probable cause document. Records say she did not have any information about the homicide, and she did not believe Harvey was selling any drugs.
This story was originally published October 10, 2022 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Tacoma man had just bought a coffee when stranger shot him dead in the street, police say."
