Tacoma man accused in fatal shooting at Hosmer Street motel pleads guilty in 3 cases
A Tacoma man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced in three unrelated felony cases in Pierce County Superior Court concerning a shooting death at a motel, a drive-by shooting and a drug case.
Joshue Tamblin, 36, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter Tuesday in the Dec. 1, 2020 fatal shooting of 32-year-old Joshua Moore-Hughes inside a room at a South Hosmer Street motel.
He also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in a second case that stemmed from a search warrant served by Tacoma and Lakewood police at a drug house in South Tacoma on Sept. 10, 2020. He was found with methamphetamine, heroin, scales and two handguns, one of which was stolen.
In the third case, Tamblin pleaded guilty to drive-by shooting for an incident from March that year. He shot at two men at a South End residence who asked him to move his truck from the property because the defendant allegedly had not paid them for work done on the vehicle.
All told, Tamblin was ordered to spend 16 years in prison.
Tamblin has 22 prior convictions in Washington from 2005 to 2017, according to court records, including 12 felony convictions in Pierce County and 10 misdemeanor convictions.
The most serious case he was accused in — the killing of Moore-Hughes — occurred because an acquaintance of Moore-Hughes believed the victim had stolen prescription pills from him, according to charging documents. Records state the acquaintance discovered 30 Percocet pills were missing, and he called Tamblin to help sort things out.
As disorder surged, why didn’t Tacoma crack down on South Hosmer Street motels?
Tamblin and the victim argued when the man renting the room at the Econolodge accused Moore-Hughes of stealing the pills, and then Tamblin was alleged to have shot him once. The defendant was arrested two days after the homicide, and he was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The murder charge didn’t stick. In court filings, prosecutors said a plea deal was reached due to evidence issues.
Witnesses told investigators that at least 10 people were in the motel room at the time of the shooting. In interviews with detectives, Tamblin admitted to being in the room when Moore-Hughes was shot but denied being the trigger man.
