Tacoma man shot person at I-705 encampment, hid body under trash. Here’s his sentence
A man has been sentenced for fatally shooting another person at a Tacoma homeless encampment under Interstate 705, then trying to hide what he’d done by burning a trailer and covering his victim with trash.
Tyrone D’Angelo Babbs Jr., 32, was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison after being convicted in a five-day jury trial in January of second-degree murder, first-degree arson and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in the Jan. 3, 2022 killing of 30-year-old Jeremy Tomlinson.
Tomlinson had been out of prison for just a week before he was killed. He’d been serving time for attempted burglary and was released December 27, 2021. Prosecutors wrote in a trial brief that he returned to the Tacoma area and started messaging his ex-girlfriend, a then 34-year-old woman who Babbs Jr. was dating.
Exactly what led to the fatal shooting is unclear, but after he was arrested, Babbs Jr. told Tacoma Police Department detectives he and Tomlinson had “beef” over the woman. The woman reported that she believed both men commonly carried weapons, and Tomlinson’s mother told police the two had known each other since middle school and had problems ever since.
Tomlinson was reported missing Jan. 5, 2022, by a woman who had heard that he’d been killed. The same day, Tacoma Fire Department was dispatched at 8 a.m. to a dead-end road near 150 E. 23rd St. where a 5th-wheel trailer was burned to the chassis. A body wasn’t found.
Two days earlier, police received two other 911 calls about a body under a tarp near a homeless encampment in the area of the trailer fire, but a body wasn’t found. On Jan. 6, another 911 caller said he was looking for salvageable items in a trash pile when he discovered a body.
Two officers contacted the caller, and Tomlinson was found under a tarp and a small pile of garbage about 6 to 8 feet from the burned trailer. The Pierce County medical examiner determined Tomlinson had been shot twice in the thigh and once in the face.
Prosecutors called Babbs Jr.’s conduct “heinous” in a sentencing memorandum that argued he should receive a high-end sentence, which Pierce County Superior Court Judge Alicia Burton imposed.
“The Defendant asserted a defense of self defense, which in no way excuses covering up a human body with garbage to evade culpability,” deputy prosecuting attorneys Elizabeth Dasse and Thomas Howe wrote. “Additionally, Mr. Babbs claimed that Mr. Tomlinson was once his friend, which further exacerbates the conduct of leaving his body to succumb to the elements.”
Babbs Jr.’s criminal history includes 9 felony convictions between 2007 and 2020, including for second-degree robbery and third-degree assault as a juvenile and adult convictions for violating a protection order, malicious mischief and community custody violations.
The homeless encampment where Tomlinson was found was cleared by contractors for the City of Tacoma about a month after the shooting and fire, but the area under the interstate — the property of the Washington State Department of Transportation — has long attracted people living without permanent housing. At the time, the city said the decision to clear the site was made due to “imminent threats to public safety,” including fires like the one set by Babbs Jr.
The City of Tacoma estimated there were 60-80 people living at the site.
Babbs Jr. was identified as a suspect in the murder and arson after detectives obtained surveillance video from a nearby business, according to the state’s trial brief. Investigators then got a search warrant for his Facebook messages, which showed that two days before the murder, he told the woman he would shoot Tomlinson if he came to the trailer. He repeated the threat the next day.
On the day of the shooting, Babbs Jr. messaged several people asking for help cleaning up a mess, telling one to bring a roll of plastic or big black bags and explaining to others that it was his “life on the line.”
Police arrested Babbs Jr. April 27, 2022. In an interview with detectives, he said he was inside the trailer fighting with Tomlinson, who was outside and tried to get in without success. According to the trial brief, Babbs Jr. confessed to shooting Tomlinson from a window, starting the fire and hiding the mans’ body so it didn’t attract attention.
This story was originally published February 27, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
