In a tragic turn of events on the evening of May 11, 2015, a 17-year-old Black / African American male named Jatarius Tariq Tolbert lost his life in a parking lot in Tacoma, Washington. He was with a group of about a dozen other young men near South 93rd and Hosmer streets around 8:30 p.m. when the fatal incident unfolded. The gathering took a dark turn when a Dodge Charger passed by the group.
It was believed that the driver of the car was someone with whom Tolbert had been having issues.
In a fateful decision, an acquaintance of Tolbert's, 17-year-old Treveon Reed, pulled out a revolver and opened fire on the passing vehicle. Initial accounts from Tolbert's acquaintances suggested that someone from the Charger returned fire, causing the group to scatter. It was only after the chaos subsided that they realized Tolbert had been struck by a bullet. He was shot in the back and succumbed to his injuries at the scene. However, another witness account contradicted the initial story, stating that no shots were ever fired from the passing Charger.
Three days after the shooting, police arrested Treveon Reed on a gun possession charge. During the traffic stop, officers discovered a revolver that was later confirmed by the state crime lab to be the weapon that fired the fatal shot that killed Jatarius Tolbert. Initially, Reed denied his involvement in his friend's death. During interviews with detectives, he claimed to have switched guns with another person after the shooting. However, he eventually admitted that he had not traded weapons and became emotional and despondent over the realization that he had accidentally shot and killed his friend.
Treveon Reed was charged with second-degree murder. In court, he expressed his remorse, stating that Tolbert was "like a brother" to him. Despite the prosecution's request for a longer sentence, Tolbert's family advocated for a lesser one, acknowledging the friendship between the two young men. In February 2016, Reed pleaded guilty to the charge and was subsequently sentenced to more than 16 years in prison for the unintentional killing of his friend.
