Murder rates down in Pierce County, with Lakewood hitting zero homicides in 2025
The homicide rate in Pierce County dropped last year, following a nationwide trend.
Across Pierce County, there were 49 homicides, according to The News Tribune’s analysis. That is a decrease from the 55 from 2024. The 2025 figures include killings in cities and towns such as Fife, unincorporated areas and fatal police shootings.
March and April of last year had a particular uptick in homicides. There were eight deaths in March, including a double homicide in the Spanaway area during a house party where a shooting broke out.Hector Gonzalez Valdez, 19, and Joaquin Ramirez, 15, were killed. Two teens were arrested and charged in the incident. In April, there were 10 homicides.
The number of homicides nationwide has reportedly dropped, The Washington Post reports. In 52 major cities alone, homicides were down nearly 20 percent last year.
There was a slight increase in Tacoma, with the Tacoma Police Department reporting 25 homicides last year. That is an increase of three from 2024 but less than in 2023 and 2022.
In 2022, Tacoma recorded 45 homicides, the highest number in recent years.
The first homicide of 2025 in Pierce County was the Jan. 9 shooting of 53-year-old James Marsh in Tacoma. Three boys were charged in his death, The News Tribune reported.
The last homicide of 2025 was the fatal shooting involving Pierce County deputies on Dec. 29., 2025, L.J. Causey, 32, died in the South Hill area after he was fatally shot during a felony harassment investigation. He was accused of firing a gunshot outside a house, and deputies found Causey sleeping in his vehicle prior to the fatal shooting. The investigation is ongoing by the Pierce County Force Investigation Team.
Including the Dec. 29 shooting, there were three fatal shootings by police last year. That is a decrease from eight in 2024. The fatal shootings include the April 5 death of Bret Winn, 29, in Puyallup and June 23 death of James Pulliam Jr near Parkland.
About 71 percent of last year’s killings involved shootings. That is a decrease of 10 percent from 2024, as previously reported by The News Tribune. Stabbings were the second-highest cause of death.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office investigated 17 homicides last year, a decrease from 19 in 2023. About 11 percent of those homicides are unsolved.
About 20 percent of the homicides that occurred in Tacoma have not been solved, including the fatal shootings of Wanda Davis and Amber Bazan on Feb. 20 at the 1200 block of St. Paul Avenue. Overall, there were four double-homicide investigations in the county.
Lakewood recorded zero homicides last year. Lakewood had four homicides in 2024 and five in 2023, according to News Tribune reports.
“We hope to continue the homicide free momentum into 2026,” Lakewood Chief of Police Patrick Smith said in an email. “We’ve made a number of adjustments to maintain a safer city, which includes the onboard of new technology, adjustments to officer work hours, adding full time business district patrols, more drones available for patrol squads, daily crime stats and weekly crime activity reports to the community and allowing officers the latitude to follow up on crimes immediately, in addition to having good officers.”
There was one homicide in Fife on Jan. 31, 2025, which has been solved.
Amory Goode Mitchell-Diaz Bradley, 2, was fatally shot on Puyallup Tribal land in Tacoma on Aug. 30, 2025. The Puyallup Tribal Police immediately turned the case over to the FBI, The News Tribune reports.
The News Tribune’s analysis includes the fatal stabbing in Milton of 40-year-old Molly Marie Bell on Dec. 22, 2025. Mi Lanique Jenkins, 30, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Bell’s death.
The youngest person killed was 1-year-old Weston Tucker. Weston died from acute fentanyl toxicity on March 13, 2025 in Bonney Lake. His parents, Nicholas Lee Tucker, 33, and Karlee Eley, 26, were charged with first-degree manslaughter.
Including Weston, nine children or teens under the age of 18 were killed in Pierce County last year.
2025 homicides still unsolved
Feb. 20: Amber Bazan, 43, and Wanda Davis, 56, died near the 1200 block of St. Paul Avenue in Tacoma.
Feb. 27: Sopheap Sin, 34, died from a shooting near the 200 block of South 46th Street in Tacoma.
March 25: Ka’lan Simonton, 32, died from multiple gunshot wounds in the 1700 block of 108th Street South near Parkland.
April 20: Vernon Lockett, 17, died from gunshot wounds near the 1700 block of East 41st Street in Tacoma.
April 23: Julien Johnson, 17, died from a gunshot wound in the 17400 block of 17th Avenue East in the Spanaway area.
Aug. 30: Amory Goode Mitchell-Diaz Bradley, 2, died from a gunshot wound to the head in the 3500 block of East Grandview Avenue in Tacoma.
Nov. 10: Amanuel Bekele, 36, died from a gunshot wound to the head near the 5100 block of South 58th Street in Tacoma.
