Woman arrested on suspicion of murder in Tacoma shooting released pending investigation
A woman arrested in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood has been released from jail, according to court records.
The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office declined to file charges Wednesday against the 19-year-old woman and requested further investigation. Jail records show she was released at about 7 p.m. The News Tribune generally does not name suspects of crimes until they have been formally charged.
She was arrested Saturday in connection to the April 18 homicide of Lehman Charrod Tucker. The victim’s mother, LaJonna Johnson, told The News Tribune she’s concerned that the woman will leave the area.
“I just woke up today with just a jolt of hope, which has been the first time in the last two weeks,” said Johnson, 45. “To then just get that jolt of hope just kind of stolen back away from me. I just don’t understand.”
It remains unclear how the Tacoma Police Department identified the woman as a suspect. Police have only said detectives established probable cause to arrest her. The arrest was announced Monday, and TPD said she was taken into custody by police in Everett. She was booked into Pierce County Jail that night for investigation of first-degree murder.
Officer Shelbie Boyd, a police spokesperson, would not confirm whether the woman made a statement to arresting officers or if she was interviewed by detectives, citing the ongoing investigation.
Johnson said she is going to believe that investigators are doing the best they can, but she feels like something is off because she’s been given conflicting information about what happened the day of the shooting and what it would take for someone to be charged. She said the woman released Wednesday might be one of only three people besides her deceased son who knows what happened.
Tucker, a University Place resident and a 2020 graduate of Spanaway Lake High School, was shot in the 700 block of South Yakima Avenue. Officers responded at about 1 p.m. Police said Tucker was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An argument was reportedly heard before the shooting. The medical examiner later found Tucker died of multiple gunshots to the torso.
Exactly what preceded the shooting or how many people were involved is unclear. Boyd said any and all evidence at the scene was collected. She declined to get into specifics on what that evidence was.
The killing was the 11th homicide in the city this year. Three more have occurred in the Tacoma area since. Most recently, police launched a homicide investigation after a man collapsed and died late Monday in a South End parking lot.
Tucker’s funeral took place Saturday at Our Church in University Place. His mother said it had been something of a victory for the family that a suspect was arrested the same day.
“I would love the public just to know that this was simply him just doing something that he thought was going to be able to help his friend and diffuse the situation,” Johnson said.
