‘I didn’t think it would happen here’: Neighbors in Tacoma stunned by killing

TACOMA, Wash. -- A young woman was gunned down in her own car on a quiet Tacoma residential street Friday morning.

Tacoma Police said detectives are looking for a suspect.

It happened at North 7th Avenue and North Pine Streets around 2:30 a.m. Friday. Police said the young woman was alone in her car when she was killed, and detectives believe she may have been targeted.



“Very terrifying,” said neighbor Brittany Jones. “I couldn’t’ go back to sleep.”

Jones said the shots sounded so close to her apartment she had to call police.

“I woke up to two gunshots, and it was like a pop and a couple seconds and a second pop,” he said.

Police arrived to find a black Lexus SUV crashed into a parked Toyota sedan.

The back window of the SUV had been shot out. In the driver’s seat, police found a woman in her 20s hit by gunfire.

“One bullet, it appears, struck the female,” said Tacoma police officer Shelbie Boyd. “She was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.”

Tacoma police said they also found bullet casings in the middle of the road behind the woman’s SUV; detectives believe think the victim could have been targeted.

The shooting happened in the middle of a dense neighborhood, shocking people who woke up to the violence.

“We heard a couple gunshots,” said William Gardner.

“We generally don’t have much problems going on,” Mike Pittman said.

“I didn’t think it would happen here,” added Olivia Sherman.

Police said after the woman was shot, her SUV crashed into the parked car. Investigators believe the shooter could have run away or driven off in a car.

Neighbors said they feel uneasy knowing the gunman is still on the loose.

“You’re usually worried about drunk drivers, not really someone on foot coming to personally attack you,” Jones said.

Detectives are combing through surveillance video looking for clues. Anyone with information is asked to call Tacoma Police.