Tacoma police investigate fatal shooting of 15-year-old boy

TACOMA, Wash. — A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed early Saturday morning in Tacoma, according to the Tacoma Police Department.

Officers responded to a shooting in the 1300 block of East 67th Street just before 4 a.m.

When police arrived, they found the teenage victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Despite efforts by officers and Tacoma Fire Department personnel to administer life-saving measures, the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jessica, who lives down the road and declined to provide her last name, told KIRO 7 she saw three boys running around the time the shooting happened.

“They were saying, ‘Run, run, run, run,” she said.

One of them jumped the fence into her yard, she said. Then, she said she heard somewhere between six to eight gunshots.

“I came downstairs from my house and he was like, ‘Help, help, help! Call 911!’” she said.

Jessica said the boy told her his cousin had been shot. She said the boy had tried to start running away but must have collapsed. She heard a car speed off.

“It’s just sad that a 15-year-old had to die over probably something stupid,” she said.

The incident hits close to home for her and her neighbors. Many said kids often play outside.

“It never, never, and I mean, never happens in this neighborhood,” said Henry Spriggs, who lives nearby.

Spriggs said the incident goes to show that violence like this can happen anywhere.

“I don’t care that it was four in the morning,” he said. “I don’t care if it was four in the afternoon. No one would have foreseen someone losing their life today, and especially a 15-year-old kid.”

Detectives and crime scene technicians have since responded, and the case is being investigated as a homicide.

Currently, no suspects have been taken into custody, and the investigation is ongoing.

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