John Beers-Ferguson, a 36-year-old man from Bonney Lake, Washington, died on September 15, 2024, after a violent chain of events turned a suspected trailer theft into a moving gun battle on the roads of Pierce County. In the early morning hours, deputies were called to the area of Rhodes Lake Road East and Falling Water Boulevard East for reports of gunfire and a collision. When first responders arrived, the scene was already chaos: a white pickup sat at the center of it, and Beers-Ferguson was found inside with catastrophic injuries.
Investigators pieced together a grim narrative. Authorities said the white pickup was believed to have stolen a trailer from the Prairie Ridge area, and that the owner pursued the truck as it fled. What started as a chase quickly escalated into something far more dangerous—vehicles ramming each other “bumper cars” style while gunfire erupted during the pursuit and again at the final crash site. By the time the chase ended at the intersection, the cost was already becoming clear.
Beers-Ferguson had been shot in the torso, and he was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. The Pierce County Medical Examiner later ruled his death a homicide and confirmed the cause as a gunshot wound to the torso. Another man was also killed in the same incident—found dead at the scene near the white pickup—underscoring that this was not a single shooting but a deadly exchange that unfolded across a neighborhood’s morning quiet.
In the immediate aftermath, law enforcement focused on the people who had been inside and around the vehicles as the gunfire ended. Deputies reported that two people ran from the vehicles, and officers from multiple agencies fanned out to find them. A woman was located not far away after neighbors reported seeing her moving through yards, but police later said she was not being treated as a suspect. A possible male suspect was also tracked down and located a short distance away, and reporting indicated at least one person was in police custody and transported to the hospital with injuries.
Even with those developments, the case did not neatly close that day. Authorities said they were still looking for another man believed to have fled—described in reporting as the driver of the white truck—and warned that he could be armed. Public updates available from that period describe an active investigation and a search for the outstanding suspect, but they do not publicly identify that person by name or detail any later charges, trials, or convictions tied to Beers-Ferguson’s homicide.
