Second person charged in October 2022 fatal shooting near Tacoma’s Tideflats
A man in the custody of the Department of Corrections is the second person charged in a 2022 homicide near the Tacoma Tideflats.
Lawrence Edward Jerry, 38, faces charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm for the shooting of 37-year-old Nicholas Ulugalu, court records show. Ulugalu was found dead from gunshot wounds on Oct. 1, 2022, after an early-morning shooting on Cleveland Way between the Puyallup River and railroad tracks.
Kenny Haymore, 50, was arrested and charged with Ulugalu’s murder about six days later. Prosecutors charged Haymore with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, court records show.
Haymore’s trial is set for June 4, 2024, documents show.
Jerry has been serving a 12-month sentence for second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm since Sept. 8, 2023, according to the Washington State Department of Corrections.
Jail records show that Jerry has been in custody at the Washington State Penitentiary. He was scheduled to be released on Monday, and prosecutors requested that the defendant be taken to Pierce County for the homicide charges. As of Tuesday, Jerry remained imprisoned at the state penitentiary, records show.
Incident Details
Ulugalu was shot nine times after he banged on the door of a motorhome where his ex-girlfriend was staying in the early morning hours, charging documents show.
Tacoma police officers were dispatched to the 1400 block of St. Paul Avenue, about a mile from the shooting scene. Ulugalu was found unresponsive on the side of the road, and he later died at the hospital, prosecutors wrote.
A 911 caller told dispatchers that her friend had been shot. Investigators discovered that the 911 caller drove Ulugalu to the shooting scene in the Impala with two other people. Ulugalu was shot while in the Impala, and the 911 caller drove them away from the scene, later abandoning the vehicle. There were bullet holes in the vehicle’s body panels, and blood was on the seats.
Ulugalu and his ex-girlfriend broke up several days before Oct. 1, and they both knew the owner of the motorhome. Records state that they borrowed the owner’s vehicle but never returned it. In late September, the woman returned to the motorhome and told the owner that she had been held captive by her boyfriend.
The ex-girlfriend was reportedly afraid of Ulugalu and, when he came banging on the motorhome’s door, the owner did not let him in for fear he would hurt her. Ulugalu was trying to find his ex-girlfriend because she was allegedly “very high” and “fading in and out.” When Ulugalu was banging on the door and yelled her name, he was armed with a handgun and shot one round into the ground, prosecutors wrote.
Witnesses said they heard the gunshot sometime before the alleged murder happened.
When Ulugalu went back to the Impala, a witness said two men arrived in a white truck. One of the men, identified as Haymore, went up to Ulugalu and told him to hand over his gun, which he did. Then witnesses reported hearing Haymore curse before shooting him multiple times, prosecutors wrote.
Jerry was identified as the second man who was with Haymore at the time of the shooting. Investigators learned that Jerry dated one of Ulugalu’s ex-girlfriends on and off for years, and Haymore is like a big brother to her, prosecutors wrote.
When police arrested Haymore, he denied shooting Ulugalu and claimed it was Jerry who fired the gun.
Haymore said that after telling Ulugalu to stop “doing that around here,” he allegedly saw the victim reach for a gun in his waistband. When Ulugalu put the down down, Haymore claimed that Jerry grabbed the victim’s gun and started arguing with him. Haymore said he tried to intervene, and soon after, he heard a woman scream and gunshots, prosecutors wrote.
Detectives later found a gun at a location where Haymore was staying. The gun matched the empty magazine that was at the shooting scene. Haymore claimed he found a gun but denied shooting any weapon, prosecutors wrote.
Detectives spoke to Jerry, who was in DOC custody, in early March. He initially denied being at the scene. Jerry said Haymore argued with Ulugalu because he took an associate’s vehicle and had not returned it for weeks. Haymore had been looking for the vehicle and Ulugalu.
Jerry admitted to being at the scene when the shooting took place. He said that Haymore told him they needed to find Ulugalu that night, so they went in his truck, which was driven by a woman. Jerry said they both brought guns and started shooting once they saw Ulugalu, who was armed. Jerry said he shot in the air multiple times before his gun jammed, prosecutors wrote.
Jerry said that Haymore shot Ulugalu multiple times while he was seated in the Impala. Both defendants ran back to the truck and drove away. Jerry said he gave his gun to Haymore and does not know what happened to it. Detectives told Jerry that Haymore claimed that he killed Ulugalu with the victim’s gun. Jerry denied shooting Ulugalu because his gun was jammed, prosecutors wrote.
