On the morning of May 15, 2023, police in Lakewood, Washington responded to gunfire at the Wisteria Walk Apartments and found two men dead inside a unit. One victim was Joseph Smith, a 70-year-old Black/African American man and tenant of the apartment; the other was 61-year-old Joseph Johnson. Both died of gunshot wounds and the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled their deaths homicides. Smith died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators say the events followed an apparent death in Smith’s apartment the day before that was reported as a suspected drug overdose. Charging documents allege that a 30-year-old man, Ontario Lavell Pruitt, went to Smith’s apartment with relatives to confront Smith about the overdose; police allege Pruitt shot Johnson first and then shot Smith multiple times as Smith lay on the ground. Pruitt surrendered the same day and was charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty and bail was set at $5 million.

Family described Smith as a longtime Lakewood resident who wouldn’t harm a soul and said the overdose in his apartment did not prove he was responsible. Does anyone have information about Smith, Johnson, or the events at Wisteria Walk that could help investigators?