On December 9, 2018 in Tacoma, Washington, 21-year-old Deonte Mitchner was shot and killed during a robbery that he and others had planned. Mitchner, along with 19-year-old Evitan De Biaso, 19-year-old Jeremy Phillip Dubois, and a 16-year-old accomplice, had arranged to lure a 13-year-old boy with the promise of selling him a gun. Dubois drove the group to the 1300 block of East 35th Street and stayed in the car with Mitchner’s two young children while Mitchner and De Biaso hid in bushes to ambush the buyer.

The 13-year-old arrived with a friend, a 16-year-old who was armed. When Mitchner and De Biaso attacked the friend, the armed 16-year-old opened fire. Both Mitchner and De Biaso were struck and found dead at the scene after a 4:50 p.m. man down call. Dubois was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree robbery and conspiracy; he later pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and received a one-year sentence. The 16-year-old who fired was arrested but prosecutors declined to charge him, citing a claim of self-defense and insufficient evidence, with rain at the scene hampering the investigation.

Are there witnesses or local readers who can shed light on what happened that evening?