String of homicides linked to members of prominent Tacoma gang
A string of homicides linked to a Tacoma gang prompted the large-scale takedown of a multi-state drug-trafficking ring last week.
Sixteen people, some with ties to the Knoccout Crips street gang, a transnational criminal group, were charged and/or arrested last week after an 18-month fentanyl-trafficking probe.
The investigation revealed that couriers allegedly brought fentanyl into the state through checked luggage, The News Tribune reported.
The FBI led the operation and was assisted by several agencies, including the Tacoma Police Department and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Thirteen search warrants that were part of the takedown primarily targeted the street gang, which has been tied to drug trafficking and violent crimes in Tacoma.
The Knoccout Crips formed in the mid- to late 2000s, around 2006 to 2008 in Tacoma, according to an FBI Seattle Public Affairs spokesperson in an email. The email provided a list of homicides that members have been linked to, which prompted the drug-trafficking probe.
Members and those associated with the gang have been involved with drug trafficking, human trafficking, robberies, drive-by shootings, assaults and other violent crimes in Pierce and King counties, the spokesperson said.
Knoccout Crips members have been tied to about about five homicides in Pierce County, according to the email.
In early October 2020, rising Federal Way football star Damoni Nelson, 17, was shot in Lakewood and died later at a local hospital, The News Tribune reported at the time
Nelson was attending a party in the 13000 block of Pacific Highway Southwest where he went to the parking lot and was shot by Justin Coleman. Police said that Nelson may have been mistaken as a rival gang member. Coleman pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced in May 2022 to 27 years in prison.
An accomplice, Joseph Carl Gioiosa, also was charged and received an 80-year sentence after a jury found him guilty.
Keon Simms, 28, an alleged gang member, has been tied to two homicides in Pierce County.
Simms was charged with Kenneth Lamar Jr., 30, another gang member, for allegedly shooting and killing 46-year-old Jason Arkell in Dec. 20, 2021. Simms pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his trial is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 4, court records show.
Lamar pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on March 28, records show. He is set to be sentenced Sept. 19 in Pierce County Superior Court.
In February 2022 Simms allegedly shot at a car in Tacoma after a vehicle cut him off. Victor Scott, 56, was killed in the road-rage incident. Simms pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and trying to elude police. Simms’ trial in that case is tentatively scheduled for October 4.
The FBI says that three Knoccout Crips members were suspected to be involved in the fatal shooting from March 29, 2023 of Larry Darnell “Trae” Marshall III, a Foss High School student.
Devonte Pool, 19, Isiah Martin, 31, and Vincent Lee Bradley III, 18, were charged in the shooting. Prosecutors believed Marshall’s murder was in retaliation for Martin being robbed at gunpoint at the Tacoma Mall four days before the shooting. Marshall, who was not involved in the incident, was reportedly friends with two men convicted of carrying it out.
Pool pleaded guilty in November 2024 to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bradley also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder the same day as Pool. A Pierce County judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison, court records show.
Records show a jury found Martin guilty of Marshall’s murder and he was sentenced to 61 years in prison. Martin has since filed a notice of appeal.
A drive-by shooting that left 15-year-old Russell Walker III dead in Parkland on Dec. 30, 2023 was linked to a Knoccout Crips member, according to the FBI email. No arrests or charges have been filed for Walker’s death.
Outside of Pierce County, Dallas Martin, who the FBI says is another gang member, was arrested and charged with the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man in February 2017, The Olympian reported at the time. Martin also had been charged in a shooting death that happened in October 2015 in Thurston County.
In Kent, another suspected Knoccout Crips member allegedly shot and killed a man in April 2022, the FBI says. Quinzy Williams was identified as a victim in the killing, according to the Kent Reporter.
