Tacoma man who killed JBLM soldier claimed it was his only option. He’s been sentenced
A 38-year-old man who at a party in 2022 shot and killed an active-duty soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been sentenced to nearly a decade in prison.
Joshua Dajuan Wright pleaded guilty in November to first-degree manslaughter for the June 18, 2022, killing of Sgt. Emmett Moore, 25, inside a Parkland residence. According to court records, Wright shot the man multiple times after he went to leave and the two briefly exchanged words. Witnesses told investigators Moore told Wright to stop talking to him because they didn’t know each other.
Wright, who has prior felony convictions and is barred from owning a gun, was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. Prosecutors said during Wright’s sentencing hearing that they had concerns about the evidence against Wright on the initial charges and that they would have had difficulty overcoming his self-defense claim that would have been brought at trial.
Moore, who was from East Point, Georgia, was declared dead at the scene in the 1600 block of 112th Street South. Wright left in a car, and he surrendered to police a little more than a week later when the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team surrounded a Tacoma residence where he was located.
The defendant was represented by attorneys from the Pierce County Department of Assigned Counsel, and in a handwritten motion filed in October, Wright said he intended to argue at trial that he shot Moore under duress, which, according to state law, is not a permissible defense to murder or manslaughter.
Wright claimed that Moore threatened “girls” with a gun, and the man tried to pull the weapon on him when he went to leave the house. Wright said he was in immediate danger, and he intended to prove at trial that he had no reasonable opportunity to escape the threat other than shooting Moore.
Prior to the gunfire, an argument took place between a female and a friend of Moore about the friend allegedly stealing pit bull puppies days earlier, according to court documents. The female later told Moore’s girlfriend that her “man was dead” and called 911 saying police needed to respond to arrest a man or else he’d be killed. Records state Wright’s and Moore’s exchange of words occurred shortly after the call.
Superior Court Judge André Peñalver sentenced Wright on Friday to 110 months, a punishment that prosecutors and the defense agreed to recommend and which was at the low end of the standard sentencing range. The judge ordered that Wright undergo evaluations and treatment for his mental health and substance abuse, given that his attorneys suggested that undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder played a part in the shooting.
Wright was born in Long Beach, California, and has lived in Tacoma since 2016. According to the defense’s sentencing memorandum, he grew up in a supportive household but had a problematic relationship with his father, who was absent until he was an adolescent. When he was living in North Carolina in 2006, Wright’s attorneys wrote, his brother was shot and nearly died when he tried to reclaim his belongings after being robbed. His family believed that Wright had mental health needs that weren’t addressed afterward, and he had undiagnosed PTSD.
“The events that led to the charges before the court may have triggered a stress response when he felt that his life was in danger yet again,” Wright’s attorneys, Chandra Carlise and Jeffrey Kim, wrote in the memo.
Peñalver said Moore’s death was a “tragic event,” and he told Wright that it was clear he had dealt with big hurdles in his life, particularly the trauma of his brother being shot. Explaining why he was ordering treatment evaluations, the judge said some restoration of Wright was in order.
“Given the defense’s indication that PTSD played a part in this, and perhaps led to striking first in — whether it was reasonable or not — some perceived threat to Mr. Wright’s safety, I think, I don’t want to see that again,” Peñalver said. “So getting to that underlying problem is important.”
Wright’s attorneys said little during the hearing except to reiterate that they and prosecutors had agreed on a sentencing recommendation and that they had provided the court with info about Wright’s background and struggles. The defendant’s father attended but did not address the court. No one from the victim’s family was in attendance, and according to court records, no victim-impact statements were submitted.
Wright chose to address the court, and he said he wanted to apologize to Moore’s family for their loss and that he would like if they could one day forgive him.
“No one deserves to lose their life,” Wright said.
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
