Man accused of brutally beating a woman to death in Tacoma is an Army Ranger

A man who was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and two counts of first-degree kidnapping is a U.S. Army Ranger at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, U.S. Army Special Operations Command says.

Spc. Patrick Byrne, 26, is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at JBLM, according to a USASOC news release. He entered the Army as an infantryman in March 2019. After completing the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program in July 2020, Byrne was assigned to his current battalion.

Deputy Pierce County prosecutor Lisa Wagner told the court at Byrne’s arraignment that the military is planning to discharge him.

Byrne does not have any operational deployments, according to the release.

Court documents say Byrne drunkenly beat a security guard after she tried to stop Byrne from entering a building. A fellow security guard found her lying in the building’s lobby, where she was bleeding and unconscious. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Byrne is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon.

“U.S. Army Special Operations Command as well as the leadership at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are cooperating fully with the local law enforcement agencies in the ongoing investigation,” according to the release.

This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 1:31 PM.