Tacoma man killed in dispute had been rebuilding family ties, loved ones say
A man who was fatally shot during a dispute at a Fourth of July gathering in Tacoma spent his last week rebuilding connections with loved ones, his family said.
Jerry Lee Schuchmann Jr.’s declining health motivated him to make positive changes, his brother, Michael Schuchmann told The News Tribune.
“It was the first time in a long time he was turning a leaf,” he said in an interview on July 14. “[He] wanted to live life a little bit.”
The 63-year-old started listening to his doctor’s advice and was rebuilding his relationship with his daughter following a long estrangement, his brother said.
They were wrapping up a Fourth of July gathering at his daughter’s house when a dispute with a neighbor turned violent, and the neighbor fatally shot him, prosecutors allege. Schuchmann died at the hospital days later.
“He wasn’t a saint, but an honest human being,” Michael Schuchmann told The News Tribune about his brother.
He called the shooting “senseless gun violence.”
“Why did it even happen?” he said. “Something has to change. Enough is enough.”
Prosecutors charged the neighbor, 41-year-old Jason Edward Seevers, with second-degree murder and first-degree assault. He pleaded not guilty at arraignment, and the court set bail at $1.5 million.
“You don’t think this would happen to your family,” Michael Schuchmann said. “... It really hit me.”
Shooting at Fourth of July gathering
Charging papers give this account of the shooting:
Officers responded to the 6800 block of Wapato Street at around 1:30 a.m. on July 5 after the shooting and found Jerry Schuchmann in a lawn chair with gunshot wounds.
He had been sitting in the chair on his daughter’s front porch when Seevers allegedly approached the house and shot him, investigators learned.
Seevers had ongoing conflict with Schuchmann’s daughter and was “constantly intoxicated and berating her on a daily basis regarding various issues,” court records allege.
The family was cleaning up fireworks debris as Seevers was standing near his truck, which was parked in front of the daughter’s house. An argument that had to do with parking escalated. He allegedly began making statements to the family like “What’s your problem?” and Schuchmann told him to go home. Seevers then allegedly pulled out a firearm and shot Schuchmann four times and also shot and injured another man at the gathering.
Schuchmann was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and suffered complications due to preexisting medical conditions, his brother said. He died on July 7.
‘He was a jack-of-all-trades.’
Jerry Lee Schuchmann Jr. was born in Chicago on Dec. 29, 1961, to Jerry Lee Schuchmann Sr. and Annette Schuchmann-Bishop. When he was in elementary school, the family moved to Tacoma, where he spent most of his life, his brother said.
He was a star pitcher throughout school and had the potential to play baseball professionally, his mother said. He was also loved and well-thought of by those around him, she said.
His father, who was also his coach, passed away when he was 16, his mother said. Jerry Schuchmann Jr. struggled with the loss and “never got over his father dying,” she said.
Schuchmann worked as a janitor, carpenter and construction worker throughout his adult life. “He was a jack-of-all-trades,” his brother said.
His mother described him as a “good guy” who never got in trouble with the law, but wasn’t perfect. He battled with substance abuse and had estranged relationships with some of his family members, she said. In recent years, he suffered multiple heart attacks and strokes, she said.
He’d been released from the hospital about a week before the shooting, his brother said, and had been making an effort to reconnect with loved ones.
He is survived by his mother, three younger brothers, three adult children, and his granddaughter, his mother said. The family will host a memorial service from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Aug. 3 at Manitou Park in Tacoma. Those who wish to honor his life are welcome to join the family, she said.
