He killed his uncle over sexual-abuse claims. Now Pierce County man is headed to prison
A 21-year-old man who shot and killed his uncle in Graham during a confrontation over the sexual abuse of his sister pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Raul Alberto Lozano Lucas was 19 years old at the time of the July 2, 2023, shooting of 59-year-old Antonio Lucas Huerta. According to the defendant’s attorney, Michael Stewart, Lozano Lucas and his mother were abused by his uncle as a child, and after learning that his sister had been sexually abused by his uncle, Lozano Lucas demanded answers from the man.
During that confrontation, Lucas Huerta taunted Lozano Lucas and seemed to boast and laugh at him, according to court filings from the defense. When the defendant said his mother had told him the uncle had done something to her, too, Lucas Huerta reportedly raised his voice and tried to backhand Lozano Lucas, who grabbed a pistol and started firing.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called at about 8:30 p.m. for a report of a shooting. A 911 caller reported that family members were holding the shooter down. Arriving deputies detained the defendant while others tried to provide medical aid to Lucas Huerta.
Lucas Huerta was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel. Deputies found eight bullet casings nearby.
Prosecutors originally charged Lozano Lucas with premeditated first-degree murder in Superior Court, but the charge was reduced to second-degree murder Tuesday. Deputy prosecuting attorney Brian Wasankari wrote in a court filing that the proposed reduction was largely based on what was provided in the defendant’s mitigation materials, which described the abuse Lozano Lucas and his immediate family suffered at the hands of his uncle.
The defendant’s attorney said this was a rare case where a person knows that their family member is being sexually abused and takes the law into their own hands.
“There’s a price to be paid for that, and that price is 15 years in prison in this case,” Stewart said.
The defense attorney said he and prosecutors agreed to recommend that Judge Edmund Murphy impose a low-end sentence on the reduced charge based on the abuse Lozano Lucas endured, the defendant’s youth, his own personal deficits and the sexual abuse the defendant’s sister went through.
Lozano Lucas had no prior criminal convictions.
“This is an absolute tragedy,” Stewart said. “Raul should not have killed his uncle, and his uncle should not have abused those children.”
Lozano Lucas was born in California and moved to Tacoma with his mother and sister at the age of 4 or 5 to live with his uncle after his father died of liver cancer, according to the defense’s mitigation materials. While his mother worked, he and his sister spent a lot of time with his maternal grandmother and Lucas Huerta, who they witnessed drinking alcohol regularly and would physically abuse them and threaten them with worse if they said anything about it.
The uncle was also financially exploitative, according to the defense. He withheld money from Lozano Lucas’ mother for work she did at the family store, making her unable to sufficiently provide for her children and forcing her to be dependent on Lucas Huerta.
A report was made to law enforcement about a year before the shooting about a sexual incident regarding Lucas Huerta inappropriately kissing the defendant’s sister when she was 7 years old, but she reportedly had a difficult time speaking to the authorities about the details of the abuse.
Stewart said that about seven or eight people were in court Tuesday morning in support of Lozano Lucas, including his mother and sister.
“This is something that I don’t know what most people would do in a situation like Raul faced, but I would hope that we would have the tools to deal with it differently,” Stewart said.
