15th Tacoma Homicide of 2022: Jordan Brown
On March 19, 2022, 29-year-old Jordan Brown’s last day, he convinced his dad to go shopping for a car with him. It would also give them a chance to drive around Shoreline and Lake Forest Park, where Jordan grew up. His father recounted the day on a local radio show.
“It was such a wonderful day for him and I. We went around the old neighborhood. We went to Shorecrest (High School) and Kellogg (Middle School) to see how his old schools got rebuilt. Then we topped it off and he treated me to Dick’s Drive-In on Lake City Way.”
It was a nostalgic and memorable drive that ended with Jordan’s dad dropping him off at work at World of Week, a pot shop near East 32nd and Portland Avenue.
“When I dropped him off at work at 3 p.m., he said ‘I really appreciate you taking me up there. . . I love you.’ We just really enjoyed our time together.”
His father did not know this was the last time he would see his son alive.
Less than a month before, two teens were arrested for a pot shop robbery in which one of the teens pistol whipped an employee. The King County judge chose to put the teens on house arrest with ankle monitors. Days earlier, the two had cut off their ankle monitors.
When the 15-year-old and 16-year-old walked into the pot shop around 10pm, they’d already allegedly committed over half a dozen robberies. Charging papers say that the 16-year-old fought with Jordan until the 15-year-old shot Jordan in the neck. First responders arrived on the scene, they attempted to save Jordan’s life, but were unable to do so. Jordan is the fifteenth Tacoma homicide of 2022.
Marijuana is legal in Washington State, but because it is not legal on the federal level, marijuana dispensaries cannot put their money in federal banks. This can lead to marijuana shops having a lot of money that they can’t put in a bank. It’s just one of the unintended consequences of this state being more progressive than much of the rest of the country.
By all accounts Jordan wasn’t just a great employee, but someone who enjoyed connecting with people. He was someone interested in being a part of and serving the community. He was a talented artist and enjoyed drawing. His death meant he never got to see his sister get married or meet the child she was pregnant with at the time of his death. And a father has to bury the son he thought would one day bury him.
It’s impossible to explain the depths of such a sudden loss. It’s everything from special occasions to just simply not seeing that loved one walk through the door. There’s a loss there that does not go away, but slowly becomes familiar.
The comment section is reserved for those who knew Jordan and want to share thoughts or memories of him.
- Jack Cameron
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