On a summer evening in Parkland, Washington, what began as a social gathering turned into a scene of violence that claimed the life of a young Black / African American man. Emmett Leviticus Moore, a 25-year-old U.S. Army Sergeant stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, was fatally shot on June 18, 2022. Moore, a native of East Point, Georgia, was at a residence in the 1600 block of 112th Street when the incident occurred.
According to witnesses, Moore and another man, Joshua Dajuan
Wright, exchanged words at the party. Moore reportedly told Wright to stop talking to him as they did not know each other. Shortly after this brief interaction, Wright produced a gun and shot Moore multiple times. Despite the efforts of responding deputies to administer first aid, Moore succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The shooter, Wright, fled the location in a car.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department quickly identified the 37-year-old Wright as the suspect. A little over a week after the shooting, on June 27, 2022, the Pierce County SWAT team surrounded a residence in Tacoma where Wright was located. He surrendered to authorities without resistance and was arrested. Wright, who had prior felony convictions that prohibited him from legally owning a firearm, was initially charged with second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Ultimately, Joshua Dajuan Wright pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. In January 2024, he was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison for the killing of Emmett Moore. Prosecutors noted that concerns about proving the original charges and a potential self-defense claim by Wright contributed to the plea agreement. Wright had claimed that he acted under duress, alleging that Moore had threatened others with a gun, a claim that prosecutors would have had to overcome at trial.
