Tacoma homicide adds to deadliest year on record

Tacoma is experiencing the deadliest year in decades after one man was killed, and another shot early Saturday.

Just after 6:30 a.m., multiple 911 callers reported hearing shots fired and a vehicle speeding away in the 800 block of Division Avenue, near Tacoma’s Stadium District.

Two men later showed up at a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds and a car with bullet holes. One of the men later died, while the other is in serious condition.

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That adds to Tacoma’s homicide count, the highest since officials started keeping crime records back in 1980. The increase in murders follows a national trend of increased violent crime since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Covid really put stress and strain on our community,” said Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards to KIRO Newsradio. “But I guarantee you I believe that if we continue to focus on our crime plan, we’re going to see those numbers decrease and we’re going to get back to the Tacoma we were before the pandemic.”

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Until this year, Tacoma recorded 35 homicides in 2022 – two more than the previous record in 1994 and 1988, according to annual reports from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. Homicides in those years were at the height of a crime wave fueled by gang violence, drugs, and drive-by shootings.

KIRO 7 News contributed to this report