Messiah Washington was an 18-year-old Black male from Tacoma who was killed on February 22, 2025, inside the Hilltop South apartment complex in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. He lived there with his father, Jacque Washington, and attended Willie Stewart Academy. Family described him as kind and considerate; he helped care for his father, who uses a wheelchair.

Shortly after 9 p.m. on February 22, reports came in of gunfire in the 1100 block of South L Street. Witnesses and surveillance show Washington in the building lobby and entering an elevator while looking at his cellphone. Court documents describe an ambush inside the elevator: a group surrounded him, one person signaled another to move, then gunfire erupted. Washington suffered 21 gunshot wounds and died at the scene; the Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. Investigators recovered a revolver on Washington that showed no sign of having been fired in the attack.

The probe expanded to include several juvenile suspects. Arrests began in March 2025 and continued through late 2025; charging papers and court reporting named Kaleb Johnny Whiteside and Kaleb Prince Tramble among those connected to the killing.

Did anyone who lived in or visited the Hilltop South building that night see the elevator or the group before the shooting?