Murder charges filed against man accused in stabbing outside Tacoma store
A man has been charged in connection with a stabbing death during a fight outside a Tacoma store.
Jonathan Miller, 43, is charged with second-degree murder for Monday’s homicide in the 1900 block of South Union Avenue. He pleaded not guilty at arraignment. Superior Court Judge Matthew Thomas set bail at $1 million.
The 36-year-old victim has not been publicly identified.
It is the the city’s first homicide this year.
Charging papers give this account:
Miller went inside the store with a woman and bought an energy drink.
Video surveillance showed him say something to the victim, and then the two men bumped chests outside the entrance and argued.
Several witnesses said Miller was the aggressor, taunting the victim until the victim finally put Miller in a “bear hug” and pressed him against a window.
The victim held Miller briefly before letting him go and walking into the parking lot. Miller followed.
Witnesses said they heard the victim tell Miller to leave him alone, and Miller threaten to stab him in the face.
Miller slapped or punched the victim, starting a fight in the rainy parking lot, according to surveillance footage from the store.
A security guard said he saw the victim punching Miller when he arrived and separated the two. The victim staggered to his vehicle and bent over the hood, which is where he was when police arrived.
Shortly afterward, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy showed he had been stabbed twice in the chest, three times in the side and three times in the head.
Miller told officers it was self-defense and he stabbed the victim after the victim punched him. He also told police the victim pointed a handgun at him.
A gun and holster was found on the front seat of the victim’s car, but security guards said the victim never went into his car after the fight.
Miller, who had two pocketknives on him at the scene, admitted he threw the knife used in the fight near a sidewalk. The woman he was with allegedly picked it up and put it in her truck before police arrived.
The argument seemed to stem from Miller pretending to be a security guard and asking customers for their receipts.
Miller “said that three people who passed him thought it was funny, but the victim did not,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
After the incident, Miller was checked up at a hospital and found to have a broken nose.
Staff writer Alexis Krell contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 1:25 PM.
