11th Tacoma Homicide of 2023: Sirrone Mansel Arthur Newbern
When Sirrone Newbern showed up at a party people noticed. He had an charisma and enthusiasm that was simply infectious. He had ambitions to go to college for theater. But like a lot of people, life often got in the way.
On the evening of April 22, 2023, Sirrone Newbern was in a car with another man and a woman. The man was on the phone with a 32-year-old who told them over the phone he had a gun. They arrived at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of 15th Street just after 10:30pm. The 32-year-old told them he wanted a one on one fight with the other man in the car and that he’d shoot anyone who got in the way.
Sirrone stated clearly that he wanted no part of any of this. He was trying to stay out of trouble. The 32-year-old punched the other man in the face and the fight began. When the other man started winning the fight, the 32-year-old pulled his gun and started firing.
Multiple bullets hit Sirrone. No one else was hit. The other man ran off. The woman called 9-1-1 to report the shooting and the 32-year-old shooter also called 9-1-1.
First responders declared Sirrone Newbern dead on the scene. He is the 11th Tacoma homicide of 2023 and the 6th Tacoma homicide of someone 25 years old or younger.
Police arrested the 32-year-old man on the scene who immediately confessed and admitted he was drunk. He’s been charged with second degree murder.
The last three Tacoma homicides I’ve written about have been young people caught in a crossfire of disagreements that had no rational reason to become deadly. The senselessness of these killings is made all the more obvious by the fact that we never get to find out who these young men would have grown up to be. People can speculate, but we’ll never know because that possibility was stolen through senseless acts of violence.
As always, the comment section is reserved for those who knew Sirrone and want to share thoughts or memories of him.
- Jack Cameron
NOTE: This post originally went out with the photo of Sirrone’s father. Apologies to friends and family for the mistake.
The picture you posted is of sirrones dad, Sirrone Sr. He was murdered three months after his son. But this pic is senior not jr.