17th Tacoma Homicide of 2021: Aaron Gentry Mathiason
On the evening of August 8, 2021, 46-year-old Aaron Gentry Mathiason was riding his bicycle along Pacific Avenue near South 72nd Street. A 53-year-old man who claimed Aaron had sold him bad drugs spotted him shortly before 10:00pm. The man returned to his apartment to pick up a switchblade knife. The man returned to Pacific Avenue and caught up with Aaron in a parking lot of a grocery store. The two argued. Aaron got off his bike. The man stabbed him in the chest. Video surveillance shows the man running away. Aaron was taken to a local hospital where he died during surgery. The man who stabbed him was arrested and charged with second degree murder. Aaron is the 17th Tacoma homicide of 2021.
All too often homicides like these are ignored by most people. It’s all too easy to see it as just another drug murder and move on. But this ignores the population impacted by Aaron’s death. His family. His friends. His loved ones. The people who remember his laugh and will never hear it again. The fact that drugs may have been involved in his death do nothing to eliminate the hurt or lessen the results of his life being stolen from him.
As always the comment section is reserved for those who knew Aaron who want to share thoughts and memories of him.
- Jack Cameron
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