The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a man was shot and killed in Parkland on Saturday. Deputies were called to the 1600 block of 112th Street South in Parkland just after 6 p.m. and found a 25-year-old man with a gunshot wound.
Joint Base Lewis McChord confirmed on Sunday that the victim killed is U.S. Army Sgt. Emmett Leviticus Moore, a native of East Point, Georgia.
“It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of Sgt. Moore,” said Lt. Col. John C. Tisserand, the 1-14 CAV battalion commander, in a statement. “This is an extremely difficult time for the Warhorse family. Our primary mission now is taking care of the family members of our fallen soldier,” he said.
Neighbors in the area say they heard the gunshots.
“We were having a barbecue, then we heard like three or four (shots), which we thought were fireworks. Then, all the cops came,” said Sandra Kinney, a Parkland resident.
When deputies arrived, they found a man inside a residence with a gunshot wound and administered first aid and CPR, but the man passed away. The sheriff’s department said Moore and the suspect were both at a house party when the shooting happened.
Detectives are trying to find out what led up to the shooting.
The sheriff’s office says this is the fourth homicide this year in Parkland, and the 16th in unincorporated Pierce County.
Another deadly shooting — the 17th homicide — happened a few hours later in an unrelated incident about 1.5 miles away.
In that case, the sheriff’s department said that according to neighboring businesses, about 100 motorcycles were gathering throughout the day near storage units in the 10400 block of Pacific Avenue South. Something led to a brawl, and multiple people opened fire just before 10 p.m. One man died at the scene.
Homicides have more than doubled in unincorporated Pierce County compared to this time last year. As of June 19 in 2021, there were eight murders.