Reginald Taylor Sr.

Reginald Taylor Sr., a 56-year-old Black man, was a father of six and grandfather to fourteen who was described by relatives as a "source of life." His family and friends remembered his great smile and loving company. His life was cut short in the early hours of Mother's Day, May 8, 2022, in Tacoma, Washington.

That night, Taylor and a friend were looking for an after-hours club. Shortly after 2:00 a.m., they tried to get into the Diplomatz Motorcycle Club in the 5400 block of South Tacoma Way but were denied entry because it was a members-only night. The two decided to wait outside, hoping to see someone they knew who could get them in. While they were waiting, an argument broke out, reportedly over the use of a racial slur. The verbal confrontation escalated into a physical fight between Taylor and another man.

During the altercation, a friend of the man Taylor was fighting with intervened. This man, Joice Duane Williams, allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot Taylor once in the abdomen before fleeing in a car. Police responded to reports of a shooting just before 3:00 a.m. and found Taylor unresponsive on the sidewalk. Despite immediate medical aid, he died from his injuries at the scene.

Tacoma Police detectives launched an investigation using witness testimonies, surveillance footage, and cell phone data, which quickly led them to identify 45-year-old Joice Duane Williams as the suspect. Investigators learned that the man Taylor had been fighting was allegedly Williams's brother. After receiving anonymous tips that Williams was planning to flee to California, police arrested him at a business in Tacoma on May 25, 2022.

Williams, a convicted felon with a history that included convictions for second-degree manslaughter in 2002 and first-degree burglary in 2012, was initially charged with first- and second-degree murder and second-degree assault. He entered a plea of not guilty. During the court proceedings, his defense attorney argued that surveillance footage showed Taylor holding a knife before the shooting, but prosecutors countered that no witnesses reported seeing a knife and investigators never recovered one.

In February 2026, the case came to a close when Williams accepted a plea agreement to avoid potential exposure to Washington's "three-strikes" law, which could have led to a life sentence. In Pierce County Superior Court, he pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree assault and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm. A judge sentenced Williams to a total of 18 years in prison, composed of consecutive terms: five years for the assault on Taylor, three years for assaulting a second man, and ten years for the firearms count.