On October 5, 2013 at approximately 2:38 AM, Lakewood Police Department (LPD) responded to a 911 call for a man down in a parking lot at the 12500 block of Pacific Highway Southwest in Lakewood. When officers arrived, they found a 20 year old male suffering from multiple stab wounds. West Pierce Fire & Rescue (WPFR) responded, but the victim died from his injuries at the scene.
Major Crimes Detectives responded to the scene to conduct an investigation. It was discovered that the victim was walking southbound on Pacific Highway SW with two of his friends. All three males are active duty soldiers from JBLM. A vehicle passed the subjects and yelled at them, something about being “white”. One of the soldiers yelled back something about the suspects treating combat soldiers with disrespect. The car turned around and stopped next to the soldiers. Five black males got out of the car and surrounded the soldiers. A verbal confrontation started, but the driver of the suspect vehicle called his friends off when he discovered the soldiers were actually combat veterans. As the suspects were going back to their car, one of the suspects appeared to bump into the victim. The two soldiers saw their friend fall to the ground as the suspect vehicle sped away. It was then that they discovered the victim had been stabbed and was bleeding profusely. The victim died at the scene.
The suspect vehicle is described as a midnight blue BMW type sedan or VW Jetta type car with four doors, tinted windows and stock rims/low profile tires. The suspects are described as five black males in their mid-twenties;
Suspect #1 – Main suspect, early 20’s B/M (black male) about 6’1”, medium build, wearing a blue zip up hoodie.
Suspect #2 – Driver, B/M 5’7”, short cropped hair, wearing a blue and white horizontal striped shirt.
Suspect #3 – B/M 5’7”, short hair, wearing a gray tank top.
Suspect #4 – B/M 5’6”-5’7”, wearing camouflage pants (not true camo, described as paint ball splat type design).
Suspect #5 – B/M 5’6, no description.
If anyone has any information on the suspect vehicle, the suspects or saw anything around the time of this incident; the Lakewood Police Department needs your information.
Please contact Lt. Chris Lawler (253.830.5011) for additional information.