Father in ICU after Lakewood mass shooting, family shares experience
May 30, 2025, 5:31 AM
A Tacoma father is in the ICU Thursday night after a Lakewood mass shooting at Harry Todd Park sent seven people to the hospital on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
A Tacoma father is in the ICU Thursday night after a mass shooting at Harry Todd Park in Lakewood sent seven people to the hospital on Wednesday.
According to a fundraiser started to help the family, “On May 28, Ron Jackson was spending a beautiful, sunny day at Harry Todd Park in Lakewood, WA with his wife, Leighten, and their five young children—four girls and one boy. It was the first hot day of the year, and they were simply enjoying a peaceful afternoon together at the lake. In an instant, everything changed.”
You can find the family’s GoFundMe here.
Leighten told KIRO 7 the park was filled with families when gunshots rang out on Wednesday.
“We just hear this pow! You know, and I look, and I’m like, what is that? Then a pow pow pow pow pow came after that, but I see like sparks coming off of the ground,” she explained.
Leighton said she saw the gunman by the playground.
“He’s shooting anywhere. I see him, you know, boom, boom, just shooting, just running and just shooting,” she explained.
Seven people were shot.
As Leighten tried to find her kids in all the chaos, she realized her husband was one of the victims.
“And he’s like I’m shot, I’m shot, I’m shot, you know. And there’s just like blood splitting out, splitting out,” Ron’s wife, Leighten, said.
Ron was shot in the abdomen and was hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting. He is now in the ICU facing major surgery on his liver.
She said her husband was struck by a bullet in front of their very young son.
“My son is here and he’s like, I don’t want my daddy to die. I don’t want him to die, you know,” Leighten recounted.
During the interview, Leighten’s family held her close for support. They’re devastated that a place they love to visit is forever changed by another act of senseless gun violence.
“The thoughtlessness and the carelessness, they don’t value life anymore,” Norelin Ballard, Leighton’s aunt, said.
They said they’re heartbroken for everyone who was at the park when the shooting happened.
“We don’t even want to go to the lake anymore, you know, and be in a big group setting anywhere. You know, it’s like we’ve got to be secluded somewhere by ourselves.”
