26th Tacoma Homicide of 2023: James Reha
You never know who you’re going to be in an intense situation. It’s almost last call at the Alley Cat bar on 6th Ave. The night of November 4, 2023 is now the early morning hours of Sunday, November 5th. And over by the pool table there’s a guy who keeps talking up these girls and there’s this other guy, a guy who has the street name of ‘Dangerous’ getting annoyed with him.
The argument is getting louder and it looks like it might become something physical. Some people might leave the bar. Some people might ignore it and hope things settle down on their own. And then there are people who get involved.
Thirty-five-year-old James Reha saw the situation and wanted to defuse it. So he got between the two guys arguing.
What happens next changes everything for everyone in the entire bar and beyond. The shooter pulls out a gun and starts shooting, at one point spinning around and shooting all over the bar. Bullets hit James Reha. A bullet hits a 34-year-old woman at the bar in the head. Both die. Three others are hit with bullets including the man the shooter was arguing with.
Later that day, the shooter will arrive at Tacoma Police headquarters with his lawyer and turn himself in. He will refuse to talk to detectives or give them the murder weapon. He is charged with first degree murder (among other things).
I didn’t know James Reha, but I can tell you from what little I’ve learned about him that he had a sense of justice. He was a family man. He didn’t have children, but his nieces and nephews will miss his presence in their lives. He loved playing with them. He was usually good company. And like that night in November, he wasn’t afraid to stand up and try to help when he could.
The shooter didn’t stop firing until he was out of bullets. Who knows how many more would have been hit if James Reha’s body had not caught those bullets?
None of that fixes the hole left in the lives of those who knew James Reha.
Of course I can’t tell you who James Reha is the way his friends and family can. This is why the comment section is reserved for friends and family who want to share thoughts or memories of him.
- Jack Cameron
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