Tacoma man sentenced for fatal shooting outside hotel on Pacific Avenue
A Tacoma man who fatally shot a 47-year-old man outside a hotel on Pacific Avenue has been sentenced to 10 years, three months in prison.
Court documents describe a dispute between the two men over the shooter stealing the victim’s marijuana. The two reportedly spoke about the issue the day of the incident. The defendant, Roberto Juan Salas, told detectives and a witness that the victim tried to attack him with a stick before he shot the man in the chest.
Salas, 39, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder for the shooting, which occurred in summer 2025. The victim was Keith Sweeney.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Timothy Ashcraft sentenced Salas on March 19, handing him a punishment at the low end of the standard sentencing range.
Prosecutors noted in a court filing that Salas had minimal criminal history. According to court records, Salas was most recently convicted in 2018 of criminal mischief with a deadly weapon for trying to pry open an ATM at a credit union in Pierce County and fighting with responding sheriff’s deputies. He has two other felony convictions and five misdemeanor convictions.
Attorneys for Salas did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The shooting occurred outside a room at the Pacific Lodge, 8821 Pacific Ave. Tacoma Police Department officers responded there shortly before 11 p.m. for a report of a person shot, according to the probable cause document. Sweeney, who resided there, was found on the ground in front of a room and was declared dead at the scene.
Another person staying there later told detectives that she and Sweeney had been sitting together in her room when Salas knocked and walked in without permission. According to a homicide detective’s affidavit, the woman explained to detectives that Sweeney had lost some weed in the yard of a house near the Lincoln International District and that Salas had found it.
The woman told the detectives that Salas admitted to Sweeney that night that he’d found the weed but said, “So what, you lost it.” Sweeney reportedly told Salas he was rude and needed to leave before things got out of hand. Sweeney and Salas then both left.
Surveillance video from the Pacific Lodge showed a man matching Salas’ description riding away on a bicycle at about 10:17 p.m. According to the detective’s affidavit, the same person returned at about 10:50 p.m., and two minutes later a gunshot could be heard followed by screaming.
Detectives were contacted by a caseworker from Comprehensive Life Resources during their investigation. According to court documents, the caseworker said Salas, Sweeney and the woman they were with that evening were clients in one of the agency’s programs.
The three of them reportedly lived in two houses near the Lincoln District until Sweeney and the woman were moved to the Pacific Lodge. A spokesperson for Comprehensive Life Resources said Monday that they sometimes place clients there temporarily while they try to secure longer-term living options.
Police arrested Salas three days after the shooting. In an interview with detectives, Salas described what he said led up to the shooting.
Salas allegedly said that after leaving the woman’s room at the Pacific Lodge, he went to a bus stop while Sweeney went to his own place. Salas allegedly told detectives he came back because his phone died, and he saw Sweeney outside with a blanket over his head and a stick. Salas allegedly said that he asked Sweeney when the last bus was and that Sweeney told him he was going to attack him.
“Then he stated that the victim ‘tried to attack me or something and he ended up getting shot,’” according to the detective’s affidavit.
Detectives reported that Salas could not tell them if he was hit by the stick or not and that they did not see any injuries on him. Salas allegedly said that after the shooting, he took a bus home.
The state originally charged Salas with two counts of second-degree murder under two different theories of the case. Prosecutors accused him of either intentionally killing Sweeney or causing Sweeney’s death while trying to commit second-degree assault. Prosecutors also charged him with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
As part of plea negotiations, prosecutors moved to drop the intentional second-degree murder charge and the unlawful firearm possession charge. Deputy prosecuting attorney Brian Best noted in a court filing about the amended charges that there were facts discovered which mitigated the seriousness of the defendant’s conduct.
In his guilty-plea statement, Salas said he was sorry to Sweeney and his family and admitted shooting him was an unreasonable use of force.
“On June 27, 2025, in the State of Washington, I fired a gun at K.J.S. and this killed him,” part of the statement reads. “I believed this was justified because I thought he would harm me but I understand that this was not a reasonable use of force on my part.”
