In the winter of 2020, the life of Ernest Searcy, a 48-year-old Black / African American man, was abruptly cut short in Tacoma, Washington. On January 14th, he was fatally wounded by gunfire, a victim of the increasing violence that marked that year as one of the deadliest in the city's recent history. His death left his family and friends with heavy hearts and unanswered questions.
The fatal encounter occurred in the parking lot of a tavern located at East L Street and Puyallup Avenue.
According to surveillance footage from that Tuesday morning, Searcy was engaged in a conversation with another man, Erik Alvarez, also 48. Alvarez had pulled his sedan into the lot and propped open the hood of his car. The video showed that Searcy did not appear to make any physical threats toward Alvarez. Following the brief interaction, Searcy was shot in the chest, stumbling backward before collapsing onto the sidewalk. Despite the efforts of passersby and police who administered CPR, he succumbed to his injuries shortly after being transported to Tacoma General Hospital.
Witnesses at the scene reported hearing two gunshots and seeing a sedan leave the parking lot. One bystander was able to provide law enforcement with the license plate number of the fleeing vehicle. An officer in the vicinity quickly spotted a car matching the description pulling into a nearby convenience store. The driver, later identified as Erik Alvarez, exited the vehicle and appeared as if he was about to flee on foot before entering the store. Police found him kneeling in the back of the establishment, where employees said he had been "nervously trying to hide."
Following his apprehension, Alvarez denied any involvement in the shooting, claiming he had been in the area jogging and doing push-ups. A search of his car and the convenience store did not uncover the murder weapon, though a sock filled with ammunition was found in his vehicle. It was later revealed that Alvarez was prohibited from owning a firearm due to previous felony convictions, which included residential burglary and attempting to elude police. He was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, with bail set at $1 million. The motive for the shooting remained unclear to detectives.
