School sale, NE Tacoma concerns, deadly shooting video among TNT’s top stories

A faith-based sports nonprofit is taking over a shuttered Tacoma school campus, while Northeast Tacoma residents grapple with reckless e-bike riders and questions about their lack of a business district. Meanwhile, deputies are searching for a suspect vehicle in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old in Parkland.

Here are Tuesday’s top stories from The News Tribune:

• Reality Sports Foundation purchased the former Sound Christian Academy property at 2052 S. 64th St. for $6.375 million on April 22, with plans to turn the campus into a centralized hub for youth sports programs, including baseball, volleyball and wrestling. Sound Christian Academy, formerly known as Tacoma Baptist Schools, abruptly closed in August after being unable to cover expenses, despite efforts to save it through donations and a refinancing arrangement that fell through.
• Northeast Tacoma residents say groups of youth around 14 or 15 years old have been riding electric dirt bikes and scooters at high speeds through neighborhoods, cutting off pedestrians and ignoring traffic laws. Many electric dirt bikes are not street legal, and riders of e-motorcycles or e-dirt bikes must be at least 16 with a valid driver’s license, a motorcycle endorsement, registration and a helmet, the city of Tacoma says.
• Northeast Tacoma has only six small commercial zoning districts, and a 1993 city proposal for a mixed-use center was scrapped after residents pushed back, preferring to keep the area mostly residential. Residents can access basic services locally or easily travel to Federal Way, and a new light rail station there could become an “impetus” for a future zoning update in Northeast Tacoma, planning commissioner Chris Karnes said.
• Braylon Daniel Diaz, 17, was shot and killed Sunday in Parkland after a car pulled alongside him on Sheridan Avenue South, and occupants robbed him of jewelry before shooting him; deputies Tuesday released video of a red, four-door car with tinted windows believed to be involved.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by senior editor Adam Lynn. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.