16th Tacoma Homicide of 2023: Alec Mercado
An hour and a half before he was dead, 27-year-old Alec Mercado ran into his mother’s house in Tacoma’s Salishan neighborhood on the 4th of July, 2023. He was angry. He’d just been robbed of his necklace and bicycle at gunpoint.
Alec intended to get his property back. He asked his mother to go with him, but she didn’t want to go after someone who had a gun. Alec went out and a few minutes later his mother saw him being chased by three people. She decided to go outside and try to calm things down. She yelled at all of them that no one needs to get hurt or die.
And then Alec was chasing the alleged thieves. As they reached the 3900 block of East Everett Street, Alec picked up a rock a little larger than a baseball. One of the three individuals then shot Alec once with a 9mm pistol and then all three ran away.
Alec’s mother rushed to Alec’s side while other family members called 9-1-1, but they couldn’t get through. They tried over and over. But it was the 4th of July and despite repeated public announcements that people should not call 9-1-1 to report people setting off fireworks, that’s exactly what they do. Every year. And so while 9-1-1 operators were doing their best to field roughly 400% more calls than they typically received, one of the many calls that could not get through was one that might have saved Alec’s life.
Alec’s mother ended up transporting her wounded son in her own car. Alec died while police were questioning his mother at the hospital.
The three people involved in Alec’s death were eventually identified. One was a witness to what occurred. The two others were brothers, ages 29 and 20. The younger brother had given the gun to his older brother. The older brother had fired the shot. They were arrested and agreed to a plea deal in which the shooter got seventeen years and his brother got three years.
The impact of Alec’s death will be felt by his family and friends long after those sentences are served. I wasn’t able to find out much about Alec’s life. I encourage those who knew Alec to share thoughts and memories of him in the comments below.
- Jack Cameron