Aidan Schmidt was a 21-year-old White/Caucasian man who was shot and killed on Tacoma’s Scott Pierson Trail in the early morning hours of July 20, 2024. Tacoma police were dispatched at about 1:21 a.m. after a report of a shooting. Officers found Schmidt on a small embankment; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide from gunshot wounds to the chest and arm.

The shooting happened near a pedestrian underpass and an encampment area. Schmidt had been part of that transient community but was reportedly moving toward more stable housing and employment and had been riding a motorcycle through the encampment. Investigators learned that an individual known as K2 moved Schmidt’s motorcycle up the trail after the shooting. Shane Joseph Freeman, known as Shaggy, was later charged with first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm; prosecutors said an ongoing dispute over money had produced repeated confrontations between Freeman and Schmidt. Defense evidence introduced an alternate suspect theory involving K2, who was never charged. Freeman was acquitted at trial, leaving no conviction in the case and questions about who fired the fatal shots.

If anyone knew Schmidt, K2, or saw activity on the Scott Pierson Trail that night, can you share what you remember?