Charges filed against 2 men for pair of fatal shootings in Tacoma
Two men were charged Monday in connection with a pair of fatal shootings in Tacoma last month.
Pierce County prosecutors charged Octavio Jason Reed, 18, and Diamond Darell Aaron, 22, with first-degree aggravated murder and first-degree murder in connection with two fatal shootings on July 24.
Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment hearing Monday. A judge ordered them to be held without bail.
No motive was given by detectives or in court documents.
Police used surveillance footage and social media to identify Reed and Aaron, who are suspected of killing 36-year-old Heather Tucker and 32-year-old Bud Morgan in separate incidents.
Charging papers give this account:
Police were called about 1:30 a.m. July 24 to the 900 block of North Pearl Street after people called 911 to report hearing gunshots. They found Tucker lying face down in the grass with several shell casings surrounding her.
She died of multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
About an hour later, officers were called to Wright Park after a report of a shooting but did not find anybody who had been injured.
A passerby found Morgan’s body about 5 a.m. near a park bench. He died of multiple gunshot wounds, medical examiners said.
One witness said he heard an argument and a man’s voice yelling for someone to shoot, prosecutors wrote in charging papers. Two men then ran from the area where Morgan’s body was later found.
Morgan’s sister told detectives she suspected he had been using methamphetamine again, and that he had been acting aggressive and paranoid.
The night he died, one of Morgan’s friends told police he was “acting strange and was asked to leave the apartment,” records say.
Morgan later allegedly called his friend to tell her he had a saw and was going to sell it to two men in Wright Park.
Tacoma detectives found surveillance footage near both crime scenes that allegedly showed Reed and Aaron. They used social media pictures to identify the men.
In footage from businesses near where Tucker died, she could be seen abruptly crossing the street.
“It appeared to detectives that defendant Aaron was trying to flank victim H.M,” charging papers say.
Muzzle flashes could be seen in the distance, then what appeared to be two men walking or running away.
Aaron is believed to be the gunman and could be seen holding the weapon at one point in the video, police say.
The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab confirmed that casings and projectiles found at both homicide scenes were fired from the same gun.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 2:09 PM.
