Victim’s family settles with Tacoma bars visited by soldier before fatal attack
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- An Army Ranger killed a security guard in downtown Tacoma in 2021.
- The victim’s family sued two Tacoma bars for allegedly over-serving the soldier before the attack.
- The lawsuit was settled earlier this month under confidential terms, an attorney said.
The family of a security guard killed by an Army Ranger in downtown Tacoma has settled a lawsuit against two businesses alleged to have over-served alcohol to the soldier before the fatal attack in 2021.
Denise Smith, 41, was beaten to death at the Frank Russell Building, where she only recently had begun working. Smith had tried to prevent Spc. Patrick Philip Byrne from entering on July 18, 2021, The News Tribune previously reported. Byrne, 26 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was later sentenced to 20 years in prison in May 2024.
Byrne, who was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, had been out drinking with friends from JBLM at two adjacent bar/restaurants on Pacific Avenue — The Forum and The Office — prior to the assault, according to the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in July 2024. The complaint, lodged by Smith’s father and four siblings in Pierce County Superior Court, alleged the businesses continued to serve drinks to Byrne when he was obviously intoxicated.
The lawsuit was dismissed this month after the family settled with the two establishments, avoiding a trial most recently scheduled for May 2026, according to court filings on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12.
Attorney Brett Purtzer, who represented the plaintiffs, confirmed both settlements Wednesday but said the terms were confidential, preventing him from speaking in any detail about the resolution.
“We made a decision that this was the best way to go,” Purtzer said, adding that he was “happy for the family.”
An attorney representing The Office declined to comment on the matter. A message left with representatives for The Forum was not immediately returned.
In court filings last year, lawyers for both businesses denied allegations raised in the complaint and wrote that Byrne, who was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, was at fault for any civil damages.
While at The Office, Byrne was involved in a physical altercation where he was punched in the head and knocked to the concrete, according to court records in the criminal case. Minutes after he regained consciousness, Byrne tried to enter the building where Smith worked at 909 A. St.
Byrne was captured on surveillance video dragging Smith by her hair, repeatedly punching her, using her keys to stab her in the face and apparently attempting to gouge her eyes out, court records said. He then choked her until she went limp and continued to choke her for a minute or two afterward.
Byrne said he couldn’t remember any details from that night. His legal defense cited evidence he had suffered a injury during the bar fight that affected the area of the brain that controls morality and judgment. Before his sentencing, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stanley Rumbaugh placed responsibility on Byrne.
While the Ranger might have lost some capacity during the crime, it was a choice to get intoxicated to the point of becoming belligerent and uncontrollable in a public place, Rumbaugh said. Byrne previously suffered head injuries in the military and from car wrecks, but he chose to make those problems worse by drinking alcohol in excess, according to the judge, who called Byrne’s act “unspeakably cruel.”
The lawsuit, citing witnesses, alleged that Byrne had one to three drinks over the course of an hour to 90 minutes while at The Forum and then, according to a friend, roughly eight mixed drinks or beers at The Office where he stayed for a few hours. Witnesses had described Byrne as “pretty drunk,” “very drunk,” “definitely intoxicated,” clearly intoxicated” and “in a mode of blackout,” the suit said.
Some beverages, according to the suit, were purchased by Byrne’s friends.
