‘You are forgiven’: Aunt of man found dead in Tacoma addresses killer in unsolved shooting
More than a year after a man was found shot to death in a stolen truck in Tacoma’s Stadium District, police are still working to piece together the last moments of Jordan Patterson’s life and what led someone to kill him.
The man’s body was in a snow-covered pickup parked diagonally near North 4th Street and Stadium Way for almost two days at the end of December 2021 before neighbors reported the vehicle abandoned. Police said residents likely believed it had been parked illegally and left there because of a snowstorm that had battered the area, but when officers arrived, they found Patterson slumped over at the wheel with a gunshot to the head.
Detectives with Tacoma Police Department have followed up on leads, recovered surveillance video from the area and retraced Patterson’s whereabouts from the day of the shooting, but the 31-year-old’s homicide remains unsolved.
Now, police are hoping renewed coverage of the fatal shooting brings forward someone who can identify a masked person seen with Patterson that day. About two hours before the man was shot, a person riding with him in the pickup was seen on surveillance video buying gas with cash on South Hosmer Street. He wore a two-tone blue puffy winter jacket with the hood up, a face mask and black-rimmed glasses.
From the gas station, police said the two drove to Fife, where Patterson was allegedly involved in a drive-by shooting. Police said no one was killed. Court records show Patterson did not have any felony convictions in Pierce County, but family said he had a checkered past.
Speaking to a room of news reporters at Tacoma police headquarters Thursday, the only words Patterson’s aunt, Julie Long, had for her nephew’s killer was that they are forgiven. Justice, Long said, lies with God.
“I pray that you find God and ask for his forgiveness and repent because that’s the only forgiveness you’ll ever need, and he loves you,” Long said. “No sin is too great. I know he loved my nephew, and I know he loves you.”
Detective Julie Dier said police determined Patterson and an unknown suspect arrived on Stadium Way at about 11 p.m. Dec. 29, 2021. Police believe the shooter got out of the truck, a black Ford F-150, walked behind the vehicle and shot Patterson through the rear windshield. Police said the killer stole anything that was in the truck and walked away.
After the shooting, police said surveillance video from a gas station at 801 Division Ave. showed a person walk by the front of the business in the early hours of the next morning and then disappear from view into Wright Park across the street. Detectives aren’t certain it’s the murder suspect, but police said the timing of walking from the crime scene to 801 Division Ave. lines up with the shooting.
“The person that did this needs to come forward and answer for what was done,” Dier said. “If anybody knows something about this, please come forward and give us the information we need to bring this to a closure. This person has family that cares about him. They want answers. They want closure.”
Patterson was a construction worker and father who Long said moved to Tacoma just before the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Patterson had been trying to clean up his life when he moved from Ventura, California, Long said, but drug use and the same bad crowd he’d found back home seemed to find him in Washington. His aunt said hard choices and drug use were ultimately his demise but still, his family loved him.
Long said her own son was born just six days apart from Patterson, and the two were in competition ever since. The boys grew up together but began to go separate ways after junior high school, when Long moved to Washington. She said the last photo she had of the two pictured them with their arms around each other’s shoulders at a Thanksgiving gathering around 2009. Long said she has a photo of them in the same pose from when the men were just about five years old.
Those are the times Long said she likes to think back on. She said she knew Patterson led a “scary” life that he tried to escape, but she said addiction is a disease that isn’t easy to recover from. Long said Patterson stayed with her when he came to Tacoma, but she eventually had to have him leave because of his drug use.
“We tried to make sure that he always knew that he was loved no matter what,” Long said. “No matter how many fights, no matter, you know, the words said between us, it just didn’t matter. There’s not much else you can do.”
Anyone who can identify the person of interest or has information about the homicide is asked to submit a tip to Crime Stoppers of Tacoma/Pierce County online or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS.
