Man sentenced for killing Tacoma woman who cooperated with rape investigation
A 33-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a Tacoma woman because he believed she cooperated with a rape investigation involving his nephew has been sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Muhammad Takseem Salanoa pleaded guilty July 9 to second-degree murder, admitting to shooting 31-year-old Ngaire Tusi in the head on Dec. 18, 2023 at Oakland Madrona Park in South Tacoma.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Andrews sentenced him the same day, giving him a mid-range sentence that included a five-year firearm sentencing enhancement. Salanoa was originally charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
A codefendant also accused in Tusi’s death, Apelu Tauanuu, pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to first-degree murder, but court records show he has a hearing Thursday regarding a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
According to court documents, investigators said Tusi, a mother of seven, appeared to have been shot while sitting at a table in a gazebo. Video of the park captured the sound of a gunshot at about 2:30 a.m.
Tusi’s mother told police that her daughter had been accused of being a “snitch” and providing information about 22-year-old James Salanoa, who was wanted for a gunpoint rape and kidnapping that occurred in late November 2023.
James Salanoa was shot and killed by Sheriff’s Office deputies on Nov. 28, 2023, following a police pursuit from Puyallup.
Prosecutor Mary Robnett recently ruled that it was a justified police shooting, writing that the man fled on foot after the pursuit and tried to enter occupied vehicles in traffic while he was armed with a handgun. James Salanoa refused to comply to repeated commands to drop the weapon and was shot multiple times.
James Salanoa was friends with Tusi, her mother told investigators, and they reportedly had many mutual friends. The mother said she knew of Muhammad Salanoa and claimed he was upset about James Salanoa’s death.
Prosecutors wrote in a probable cause document supporting Muhammad Salanoa original charges that the defendant was upset that people were cooperating with the police and providing them with information about his nephew. People who knew Tusi reportedly told detectives she was murdered as retaliation for giving police information about James Salanoa.
In other news out of Superior Court
No further jail time for man who fled Lakewood police, killed 1 in driveway
A 42-year-old man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for fleeing police in Lakewood and crashing his vehicle in a driveway, killing a man who had come outside with a shotgun, will face no more jail time.
Judge Rebecca Reeder granted Jamshid Foster Aflatooni an exceptional sentence below the standard range Friday after the defendant’s attorney presented evidence that Aflatooni was in the throes of a mental health crisis on the date of the incident, July 6, 2022, and psychologists concluded he was legally insane at the time and unable to tell right from wrong.
Reeder sentenced Aflatooni to time served, 77 days. He had no prior criminal history.
Prosecutors had asked for a punishment of two years, three months — the high end of the standard sentencing range — citing the “horribly brutal death” of 33-year-old Ian Geiger.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Michele Taylor also pushed back on the defense’s mental health claims, noting that Aflatooni entered a factual plea to second-degree manslaughter on April 11, and nowhere in his guilty-plea statement did he say that his ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct was impaired.
Taylor later wrote in a court filing about Aflatooni’s most serious charge being amended from first-degree murder to manslaughter that the change was warranted by the fact that Aflatooni was suffering from severe mental health issues at the time of the offense.
Prosecutors originally charged Aflatooni with second-degree murder, three counts of second-degree assault and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle. Those charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.
According to court records, the fatal collision occurred in a neighborhood near state Route 512 and South Tacoma Way after Lakewood police began following an SUV tied to a road-rage incident with a firearm that Milton police had been investigating.
A police K-9 unit located the vehicle, followed it and was waiting for backup when Aflatooni fled into the residential neighborhood. A short time later, Aflatooni reversed and rammed into the Lakewood officer’s vehicle twice.
In a statement to police, Geiger’s wife wrote that they were inside their house when they heard the commotion, looked out their front window and saw the SUV speeding and spinning its tires with police behind it. She said Geiger told her to get back, and he grabbed a shotgun and went outside.
Aflatooni drove at Geiger at speeds of about 47-57 mpg, according to prosecutors, striking the man and throwing him over his parked car, which then pinned him into his garage door. Geiger fired two shots into the SUV’s grill as he was struck.
He suffered substantial internal bleeding among other injuries. He was transported to Madigan Army Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries the next morning.
Aflatooni’s mental competency to assist in his own defense was called into question at the start of his criminal case, and a psychological evaluation later diagnosed him with an unspecified bipolar disorder with psychotic features.
His defense attorney, Bryan Hershman, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Aflatooni’s mental health issues dated back to grade school. Aflatooni, who was born in Bremerton, sought help from doctors for years, but Hershman said the help he got only seemed to aggravate Aflatooni’s symptoms, and he eventually sought out a “medicine man” in Canada.
When Aflatooni returned to Washington in 2022, Hershman said, his client’s family tried to get him a mental health evaluation and involved the court system in trying to help him.
Charges dismissed again for Tacoma artist accused of murdering father
A Tacoma wood sculptor released this year from a state psychiatric hospital where he’d been committed after being deemed unable to stand trial for the 2018 murder of his father has once again had charges dismissed.
Judge Stanley Rumbaugh found July 3 that Kurt Otto Alan Youngers, 61, lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or assist in his own defense and ordered that he be evaluated for civil commitment.
Youngers was accused of fatally shooting his 78-year-old father, Otto Youngers, on Feb. 1, 2018 in his Tacoma home in the 3500 block of South Wilkeson Street. Youngers lived next door, and police found him in his father’s home after being called there to check on an elderly man. The father was found dead inside.
According to court records, Youngers thought his father was a Nazi and had killed his best friend. When prosecutors first charged him with first-degree murder, questions arose about his competency to stand trial, and the case was dismissed in November 2018 after attempts to restore his competency failed. Youngers was committed indefinitely to Western State Hospital.
Youngers’ artwork included an archway and bench near the intersection of Center and Tyler streets in Tacoma constructed in 2001, according to previous reporting from The News Tribune. The wooden sculptures are no longer there. He also had life-size wooden sculptures displayed at a gallery in Los Angeles in 2008.
Prosecutors recently learned Youngers was released from Western State Hospital in January 2025 to an intensive behavioral health treatment facility in Olympia, the Supreme Living facility, court records show. His prescriptions for psychotropic medications were suspended in 2019 because they were deemed no longer necessary.
While at the Olympia facility, Youngers requested independent living, according to prosecutors, and in March they requested a warrant for his arrest.
Youngers’ attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel objected to him being re-arraigned on the charge of first-degree murder, stating in a March 26 court filing that prosecutors hadn’t provided a sufficient basis for the court to find that Youngers’ mental competency could be restored.
A forensic psychological evaluation dated June 20 diagnosed Youngers with delusional disorder, persecutory type, continuous and found that he lacked the capacity to have a rational understanding of the nature of the proceedings against him or assist in his own defense.
Rumbaugh dismissed Youngers’ charges without prejudice, meaning it is possible for prosecutors to reinstate the criminal case in the future.
Man gets 18 years for fatal shooting in Fife during drug transaction
A 30-year-old man who shot and killed a man in Fife while trying to buy $20 worth of fentanyl with a counterfeit bill has been sentenced to 18 years, three months in prison.
Tyler James Webster pleaded guilty July 7 to second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm for the March 16, 2024 killing of 28-year-old Nicholas Harju.
Judge Pro Tempore Brian Tollefson sentenced Webster the same day, giving him a prison term on the low end of the standard sentencing range that included a five-year firearm sentencing enhancement.
The shooting occurred in the 5000 block of Pacific Highway East. Fife police officers were dispatched that night for a report of a drive-by shooting and found Harju on the ground with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Detectives identified Webster as the suspect through video surveillance and statements from witnesses. Some witnesses also identified Webster through a photo montage that detectives provided.
One witness who was reportedly friends with Harju told detectives they were trying to get money for a motel room by selling fentanyl powder, according to charging documents. One of Webster’s friends approached the witness about buying $20 worth, but when Webster gave Harju the money, Harju noticed it was a counterfeit bill.
Harju gave the bill back to Webster, who reportedly became angry. According to charging documents, Webster pushed Harju while yelling, “You think I’m a punk!” Webster then pulled a firearm and shot Harju.
