23rd Tacoma Homicide of 2023: Dennis Steven Ray Parker

I’d love to tell you about Dennis Parker, who he was, what his interests were, what he hoped for, and what and who he cared about, but Dennis wasn’t someone who left a large digital footprint. His Facebook page exists, but is largely unused. I was able to find photos of him, but pretty much all I can tell you about Dennis is what his last days were like.

In the days leading up to Dennis’s last day he was clearly experiencing something traumatic. There are multiple reports of him banging on doors and walls in the apartment complex he lived in called Lakeside Landing. Located off of South 12th Street across the street from Tacoma Community College, Lakeside Landing is a complex of over thirty buildings each with four to six apartments in them, many sharing walls. On October 22, 2023 police spoke to Dennis about the disturbances he was creating. One witness claimed he had a knife during one of the incidents.

In the early afternoon on the following day, Dennis was again pounding on doors and walls. A woman called her 31-year-old boyfriend to report that Dennis was doing this and he came over. Video shows the 31-year-old approaching Dennis, pulling a gun, taking a couple steps towards Dennis and then shooting Dennis in the chest.

The 31-year-old would tell investigators that he initially left to apartment to go somewhere in his girlfriend’s vehicle and that he thought Dennis had something in his hand and was approaching him, but all of this is contradicted by the video. The 31-year-old has been arrested and charged with second degree murder.

The comment section is always reserved for friends and family of the victim, but those comments are especially important in cases like this where I’m unable to provide much of anything in regards to who Dennis was. It’s clear he was dealing with some unaddressed mental health issues.

- Jack Cameron

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