Police said detectives were treating the case as a homicide Sunday after gunfire near East 91st Street left one woman dead and another hospitalized.
TACOMA, Wash. — A woman was killed and another woman was injured early Sunday in a shooting in Tacoma, where officers responding to the 100 block of East 91st Street found both victims with gunshot wounds and began emergency aid before one died at the scene.
Tacoma police said the shooting happened around 12:35 a.m. and remained under investigation Sunday evening, with no arrests announced and no suspects in custody. The surviving victim was taken to a local hospital with injuries police described as not life-threatening. Detectives were working to sort through witness accounts, physical evidence and the movements of a large crowd that had gathered near the house before the gunfire.
Police said officers were sent to the area after a report of a shooting just after midnight. When they arrived, they found two women who had been shot. Tacoma officers began lifesaving measures until Tacoma Fire Department crews arrived, but one of the victims died at the scene. The second woman was transported to a hospital and was expected to survive. Tacoma police did not immediately release the names or ages of either woman. Officer Shelbie Boyd said a large crowd had gathered at a home on East 91st Street for what appeared to be a party or similar gathering when the shooting broke out. By daybreak, yellow tape blocked off parts of the street as investigators moved through the area and marked evidence near the home and along the roadway.
The investigation stretched beyond a single spot. Boyd said evidence markers and shell casings were found in two separate areas of the surrounding neighborhood, though police believed both locations were tied to the same shooting. She said the number of people at the scene made the work harder for investigators trying to pin down exactly what happened in the dark. “It’s the middle of the night, it’s dark, there’s people everywhere,” Boyd said, describing the challenge of processing evidence while also sorting through witness information. Neighbors told local reporters they believed many of the people at the gathering were teenagers, but police said both shooting victims were adults. Authorities had not said Sunday what led to the gunfire or whether the women were the intended targets.
The killing added to Tacoma’s weekend public-safety workload and again put focus on late-night gun violence tied to crowded gatherings. In the first hours after the shooting, investigators concentrated on the scene itself, collecting shell casings and trying to determine how the violence unfolded. Local television images showed a broad crime scene around the South Tacoma neighborhood block, with patrol vehicles and evidence tents in place as daylight came up. Police had not announced whether they recovered a weapon, identified a suspect vehicle or established how many shooters may have been involved. The lack of those details left major questions unanswered Sunday, including where the gunfire began, whether anyone at the gathering knew the shooter and how the crowd scattered after shots were fired.
As of Sunday, detectives and crime scene technicians were investigating the case as a homicide. Police had not announced arrests, charges or court dates, and they had not said when the dead woman would be publicly identified. The next steps were expected to include additional interviews, review of surveillance or phone video if any exists, forensic testing of shell casings and autopsy work by the medical examiner. Investigators were also likely to compare accounts from people who were at the gathering with physical evidence from both parts of the scene. Until those steps are complete, police have said only that one woman is dead, a second survived her injuries and the case remains open.
The scene left neighbors shaken. Christina Tate, who lives nearby, said some of her younger family members had been at the gathering earlier Saturday night but decided to leave before the violence. “Thank goodness they left hours before the situation and made it to my house safely,” Tate said. Her account captured the uneasy mood around the block as residents woke to taped-off streets, flashing lights and word that someone had been killed only a short distance away. For police, the crowd itself may prove central to the case: a large number of potential witnesses means more chances for someone to know what happened, but it also means more conflicting stories for detectives to untangle.
By Sunday night, Tacoma police were still searching for the person or people responsible. The next public milestone is likely to come when investigators announce an arrest, release the victim’s identity or provide a fuller account of what sparked the gunfire.
Author note: Last updated March 29, 2026.