Q. S., male, was shot on the evening of April 27, 2025, as Tacoma police responded just before 7 p.m. to the 4800 block of East Q Street near Swan Creek Park. Officers found a man and a woman inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds; both were rushed to the hospital, and the man later died despite lifesaving efforts. The attack rattled the Salishan neighborhood, where officers and firefighters worked through a chaotic scene as detectives began collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.
Authorities did not immediately release the victim’s age or race, and early reports withheld his full name; court filings later identified him by the initials Q. S.
Within days, investigators focused on a suspect. By April 30, a 26-year-old man had been taken into custody in connection with the shooting; local outlets reported the arrest followed coordination with neighboring agencies. Prosecutors later charged Nicholas Miller, 26, with murder and assault tied to the April 27 attack on East Q Street, alleging he opened fire on the occupied car, killing Q. S. and wounding the female passenger. The charging papers and contemporaneous news accounts did not detail a public motive, leaving the narrative centered on the swift arrest, the gravity of the charges, and the neighborhood shaken by sudden violence.
In the months that followed, police and county officials continued to track Tacoma’s rising toll of gun violence, situating the April 27 killing within a broader spike in homicides during the year’s first four months. As the criminal case moved forward, authorities urged anyone with additional information about the evening’s movements on East 48th Street and Q to contact investigators, underscoring that the surviving victim’s account and neighborhood tips remained vital to closing evidentiary gaps. Public records and news reports available to date have not provided further biographical details about Q. S., including his precise age or ethnicity, beyond his identification in court documents and confirmation that he was the man who died from the shooting that night.
