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Train hits and kills pedestrian at Pierce County railroad crossing Monday, police say

Steilacoom Police vehicles responded after a train hit and killed a woman Aug. 26. near Sunnyside Beach Park.
Steilacoom Police vehicles responded after a train hit and killed a woman Aug. 26. near Sunnyside Beach Park.

A train hit and killed a woman in her 60s who was walking on the railroad tracks near Sunnyside Beach Park Monday in Steilacoom, police and fire department officials said.

Steilacoom Public Safety officers responded to the Sunnyside Beach railroad crossing shortly before 4 p.m., according to Steilacoom Chief of Police Tom Yabe. Within minutes, the first units arrived and found the woman had died from her injuries, he told The News Tribune via email.

Medical authorities pronounced her dead at 4:13 p.m. and the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office will continue the investigation, he said.

It doesn’t appear that a crime or an act of self-harm occurred based on available evidence, according to Yabe.

West Pierce Fire & Rescue also responded to the incident just before 4 p.m. Monday, according to spokesperson Jenny Weekes. Steilacoom police were performing CPR when fire officials arrived, but the woman did not survive, she wrote.

“Our hearts are with a family who is grieving the sudden and unexpected loss of their loved one,” Yabe wrote.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include information from West Pierce Fire & Rescue.

This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 7:42 PM.

Julia Park
The News Tribune
Julia Park is the Gig Harbor reporter at The News Tribune and writes stories about Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula, Fox Island and other areas across the Tacoma Narrows. She started as a news intern in summer 2024 after graduating from the University of Washington, where she wrote for her student paper, The Daily, freelanced for the South Seattle Emerald and interned at Cascade PBS News (formerly Crosscut).
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