Suspect identified in shooting that killed Mount Tahoma High School football player
A 20-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for suspected murder after officers found a boy shot in the 1700 block of East 41st Street on April 20, according to a press release from the Tacoma Police Department.
Tacoma Police officers were dispatched just before 9:30 p.m. April 20 after receiving calls about gunfire in the area, which is in the Salishan neighborhood of Tacoma, The News Tribune reported. They found the boy wounded and he was transported to a local hospital, but did not survive. Detectives and crime-scene technicians began investigating the incident as a homicide.
The suspect was booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of murder in the first degree, according to the release.
The victim was later identified as Veron Lockett, a junior at Mount Tahoma High School. A candlelight vigil in memory of Lockett, who also played football for the school and was remembered by his coach as a “fighter” and a kid who “always found the bright spot in everything he was doing,” was held at the school’s football stadium April 22. A GoFundMe has also been set up to support his family.
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The day after the fatal shooting, police responded to another report of gunfire in the same area, Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Shelbie Boyd told The News Tribune on April 21. That incident led nearby Blix Elementary to go temporarily into a “modified lockdown,” which involves a school restricting entry and exit to the building but allowing students and staff to move freely inside and continue regular instruction, The News Tribune reported.
A third shooting in the 4800 block of East Q Street hit the Salishan area April 28, leaving one man dead and one woman injured, The News Tribune reported.
