29th Tacoma Homicide of 2020: Joshua Moore-Hughes
It was a late night in a motel in the 8800 block of Hosmer on December 1, 2020. People had been entering and leaving one particular room all night. At one point the man who rented the room noticed that thirty Percocet pills were missing and ordered that the ten people in the room remain there until the missing pills were found. He asked a 33-year-old man for assistance. When the renter of the room accused32-+year-old Joshua Moore-Hughes of stealing the pills, Joshua took offense as he knew he was innocent of the theft. The 33-year-old told him to watch his mouth. Joshua said, ‘Watch my mouth?’ at which point, the 33-year-old shot him with a 9mm pistol. The people in the room scattered and were largely uncooperative when police later questioned them. The 33-year-old was soon taken into custody while Joshua was taken to the hospital where he later died becoming the 29th Tacoma homicide of 2020.
Hosmer is a street notorious for crime. Major crimes happen in the area on a weekly if not daily basis. And it is all too easy for someone to look at the things that happen there and pretend that they don’t matter because it’s a high crime area that law abiding citizens tend to avoid. This viewpoint dehumanizes our fellow citizens and ignores the fact that a human being is more than their worst actions, more than their worst decisions, more than their circumstances. And perhaps, more importantly, everyone has loved ones who never did anything to deserve the grief they now have thanks to the unnecessary loss of a loved one.
Joshua had a large family who cared deeply about him. He had the sort of laugh that would make others laugh even if they didn’t know what he was laughing about. He spoke up about injustice and cared about others.
As always, the comments section is moderated and reserved for those who knew Joshua and want to share any thoughts or memories of him.
Jack Cameron
