Homicides in Pierce County occurring at troubling rate in 2022. What’s driving it?
Two months into the year, homicides in Pierce County are double what they were during the same time period last year.
Law enforcement officials say that’s concerning since the homicide rate in 2020 and 2021 was already higher than usual.
As of Monday, there have been 21 homicides in the county this year. Four of those were fatal police shootings.
On the same date last year, there had been 11 homicides countywide. That was nearly double from the six homicides that occurred in January and February 2020.
“We had a lot of changes made in the last two years, and any of them could have drastically impacted crime rates,” said Pierce County sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss. “Having them all combined means we’re seeing a lot of bad stuff.”
He pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, restricted booking at the jail, new laws surrounding policing, de-criminalization of drug possession and lack of confidence in law enforcement that led to nationwide protests after George Floyd’s murder as reasons for the spike in crime.
The Sheriff’s Department has had eight homicides in their jurisdictions this year. Tacoma police have nine. Puyallup, Lakewood, Fife and Buckley have each had one.
All but one homicide, or 95 percent so far, involved a gun. The other involved somebody deliberately running over a 68-year-old man at a Spanaway drive-thru restaurant last weekend.
Seven of the 21 homicides are unsolved.
“The increase in homicides cannot be directly attributed to any one thing,” Tacoma police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said. “The Tacoma Police Department historically has a very high solve rate for homicides and continues to do so. This is due to the diligent work of our detectives and officers and their partnerships within the community and the media.”
Tacoma is still investigating two of this year’s homicide, giving it a 78 percent solve rate so far.
The first homicide this year was 40-year-old Sorin Lay, who was fatally shot Jan. 1 by a friend in Parkland as they allegedly sat in a car smoking heroin and methamphetamine. The friend was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree assault.
There have been three domestic-violence killings, two of which ended with the suspects killing themselves. Gloria Choi was fatally shot Jan. 2 in Lakewood by an ex-boyfriend from whom she’d repeatedly sought protection. A Carbonado man killed his girlfriend and then shot himself Jan. 9 after a police pursuit. Tacoma police said a 31-year-old woman was fatally shot Monday by her boyfriend in a motel parking lot during a disagreement. That victim has not been publicly identified.
Motives in the other homicides are still being investigated. At least one stemmed from a road-rage incident. Others are believed to have involved drugs.
2022 homicide list:
Jan. 1: Sorin Lay
Jan. 2: Gloria Choi
Jan. 6: Jeremy Tomlinson
Jan. 9: Zoe Lacrosse
Jan. 16: Moses Portillo
Jan. 17: Earl J. Harris III
Jan. 20: Nora Schindler
Jan. 22: Gage D. Hallstead
Jan. 25: Demonte Nettles Williams
Jan. 27: Jerome Holman
Jan. 28: Terrance Flowers
Jan. 28: Brett Stagg
Jan. 31: Victor Scott
Feb. 5: Philip Mercado Mendoza
Feb. 7: Joshua Ferrell
Feb. 10: Esteban Vasquez III
Feb. 11: Joseph Sanchez
Feb. 19: Victim not publicly identified
Feb. 24: Victim not publicly identified
Feb. 26: James Brown
Feb. 28: Victim not publicly identified
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 10:59 AM.
