On the evening of March 16, 2024, Nicholas Harju, a 28-year-old male from Snohomish, Washington, was fatally shot in Fife. The incident took place in a business parking lot in the 5300 block of Pacific Highway East. First responders arrived at the scene shortly after 10:30 p.m. to find Harju with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was transported to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of the following morning.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the torso and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
Initial investigations revealed that the shooting was not a random act of violence but stemmed from a dispute during a drug transaction. Harju and a friend were attempting to sell fentanyl powder to raise money for a motel room. The man who approached them to buy the drugs was later identified as 29-year-old Tyler James Webster. The situation escalated when Harju and his friend realized that the money Webster had given them was counterfeit.
An argument ensued, during which Webster, angered that he was being denied the drugs, allegedly pushed Harju in the head while he was sitting in the passenger seat of a pickup truck, yelling, “You think I’m a punk!” Webster then reportedly pulled out a firearm and shot Harju. Following the shooting, Webster fled the scene in a white sedan. Witnesses at the scene provided a description of the shooter and the vehicle to the police.
Through video surveillance and witness statements, detectives were able to identify Tyler James Webster as the primary suspect. On May 8, 2024, Webster was arrested and booked into the Pierce County Jail. He has since been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf, and bail was set at $2 million.
