16th Tacoma Homicide of 2022: Astina Messieur

At around 1:30am on April 12, 2022, 25-year-old Astina Messieur was in the parking lot of a motel in the 8800 block of Hosmer Street when someone shot her in her side up under one arm. I wish I could tell you more details of what led up to the shooting, but all I could find is that police believe it was a case of mistaken identity.

Officers performed life-saving measures until paramedics arrived and transported her to a local hospital where she later died from her wound. Astina is the sixteenth Tacoma homicide this year and the third 2022 homicide to occur around the Hosmer area.

In fact, between 2014 and 2021 there have been over 1,300 individual calls to police about incidents in that area. This is roughly ten times the amount of calls typically received in other areas in Tacoma.

Astina was well aware of the dangers of the Hosmer area. It’s why she was working so hard to move her and her two young children away from there. Her children were her world and her promise for the future. This was not a dream that Astina failed to realize. It was a dream stolen from her by her killer.

As of this writing despite the police’s explanation of motive it does not appear that anyone has been arrested for Astina Messieur’s murder. This is its own kind of tragedy with the relatives and loved ones of the victim knowing all too well that the person responsible for Astina’s death, for her children not having a mother, is still out there.

The comment section is reserved for those who knew Astina and want to share thoughts or memories of her.

- Jack Cameron

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