3 more teens charged in Tacoma elevator shooting that killed 18-year-old
Editor’s note: This story was updated Sept. 18, 2025 to remove the names of two 16-year-old boys because their cases were moved to Juvenile Court. The News Tribune generally only names juveniles charged with a crime if they are prosecuted as an adult.
Three more teenagers have been charged with murder for their involvement in the killing of an 18-year-old man in Tacoma who was shot while surrounded by the suspects in an apartment building elevator.
Two 16-year-old boys were charged as adults Thursday with first-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder in Pierce County Superior Court. One was additionally charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Bench warrants were issued for their arrest. In Washington, 16-year-olds who are charged with a serious violent offense such as murder are automatically moved to adult court. According to charging documents, the two teens were recently on electronic home monitoring in King County for unrelated felonies.
Messiah Washington was killed in the Feb. 22 shooting. He was a student at the Willie Stewart Academy and lived with his father on the third floor of the apartment building in the 1100 block of South L Street. Relatives previously told The News Tribune that Washington was his father’s best friend and took care of him.
The third defendant, a 15-year-old boy who allegedly was the first to shoot the victim, was charged March 18 in Pierce County Juvenile Court with first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, according to Adam Faber, a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Faber said a bench warrant was issued for his arrest the same day, and he is not yet in custody.
A fourth defendant who lived in the Hilltop apartment building where the shooting occurred was arrested and charged in March in juvenile court with second-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. The 15-year-old boy pleaded not guilty at arraignment and was ordered to be held in detention at Remann Hall. Prosecutors are seeking to charge him as an adult.
The News Tribune generally does not name juveniles who have not been charged as adults for a crime.
Charging documents in the 16-year-olds’ cases don’t describe a possible motive in the shooting. Washington’s father, Jacque, told detectives he thought his son might have owed the alleged shooters money, but he wasn’t sure.
When the first arrest was made March 5, the 15-year-old’s mother allegedly told detectives her son had said the other suspects told him Washington was clutching a gun, which made them nervous, and that was “how everything happened.”
A revolver that belonged to Washington was found at the scene, but surveillance video allegedly shows that it was never visible before he was shot and the gun, which was loaded with five bullets, wasn’t fired.
The probable cause document details surveillance video from inside the elevator where Washington was shot. It was initially reported that the elevator’s camera didn’t work.
According to the document, Washington got on the elevator from the first floor at about 9:12 p.m. and took it to the third floor. Washington got off, and the four suspects — who had just knocked on Washington’s apartment door — got on the elevator. Washington followed them.
Detectives reported that Washington appeared to be looking for someone and was texting on his phone. When he got on, he stood in the middle of the elevator car surrounded by the suspects and didn’t appear to say anything to them.
One of the alleged shooters gestured with a head roll for another suspect to move away from Washington, according to the document. Washington then adjusted his shorts on both sides of his body.
“[Defendant] then immediately pulls his gun from underneath his coat with his left hand and shoots the victim multiple times at a very close distance,” the probable cause document states.
Washington fell to the floor, and one of the 16-year-old boys allegedly appears to shoot him once more. Records state Washington grabbed his revolver, but it slipped from his hand and he collapsed.
After the elevator door opened on the 6th floor, the four suspects ran down the hallway. The group went down a stairwell, and surveillance video showed them exit the building at 9:14 p.m. The group fled south through an alley toward Earnest S. Brazill Street.
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 1:23 PM.
