Kent Police are reporting that at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, Kent Detectives and Valley SWAT responded to an apartment in the Graham area to arrest a homicide suspect.
The homicide occurred on April 7, 2022 inside the Hillcrest Cemetery.
The victim – a 25-year-old Tacoma man – was shot several times and despite life-saving efforts by Officers and Medics, he tragically succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Police say that Kent Detectives spent hundreds of hours interviewing witnesses, recovering, and viewing video and processing evidence, and were able to identify the suspect, a 24-year-old Tacoma man. Kent Detectives recently discovered that the suspect was staying in an apartment complex in Graham. Due to the high risk involved in arresting the homicide suspect, the Valley SWAT team responded to assist.
The Valley SWAT team secured the perimeter of the location to protect the surrounding neighborhood and arrested the suspect without incident. The suspect was in possession of handguns at the time of his arrest and was out on bail from a previous weapons charge.
“I am grateful to our officers and detectives who worked tirelessly to locate and apprehend the suspect in this horrible crime,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said. “We hope that these efforts go a long way to bringing justice to the victim’s family.”