14th Tacoma Homicide of 2019: Jemone Pratt

Sixteen-year-old Jemone Pratt was standing with friends on front porch of a house in the 4600 block of South J Street on July 30th. A minivan drove by. The occupants of the van recognized Jerome. They believed he had threatened two of them in the van previously. They went around the block so that one of them could switch seats. They pulled up on the house and fired seven shots. Six hit the house. One hit Jemone Pratt in the head. He was transported to Tacoma General Hospital where he died of his injuries after fighting for his life for five hours.

This is the fourteenth Tacoma homicide this year. Typically we have roughly half this number of homicides by the end of July.

Tacoma police picked up the shooter along with two accomplices in the van days later. Jemone's killer has been charged with first degree murder.

Jemone's friends called him "Junior". He had a larger than life personality. His family loved him dearly. The murder of and by teenagers are among the most tragic. Teenagers are just figuring out who they are and have yet to become who they could be. We'll never get to know who Junior might have been. That's been stolen from his friends and loved ones.

As always, the comments section is moderated and is reserved for those who knew Junior and want to share thoughts or memories of him.

There is a GoFundMe set up in Jerome's name.

- Jack Cameron