2nd Tacoma Homicide of 2023: Wyatt Owens
It was a Sunday afternoon on January 15, 2023 when sixteen-year-old Wyatt Owens stopped his white BMW at a stoplight on North Pearl Street. He had gotten his license only months earlier. When he got it, he made sure to fill out the organ donation information. Wyatt liked to help people any way he could. Early on, he got a speeding ticket, like a lot of teenagers with that sort of newfound freedom. After that he told his parents he felt like he had to go ‘low and slow’ to avoid getting another ticket. His destination was two blocks from the intersection. He was stopping by his mom’s to pick up some clothes and then heading back to his dad’s place.
Another vehicle pulled up next to Wyatt at the stoplight. Then someone in the other car shot Wyatt in the head and drove away.
Moments later, at 5:15pm, Wyatt’s car crashed into the front yard of a house in the 4300 block of North Pearl Street. The homeowner came out to investigate and found that Wyatt had been shot. They called first responders who took him to a local hospital where he died five days later. Wyatt is the second Tacoma homicide of 2023 and the third Tacoma teen shot in the first fifteen days of the year.
Though nearly a year and a half has passed Wyatt’s killer has not been brought to justice. If you have any information on this case, you are encouraged to contact Pierce County CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or the Tacoma Police Department at (253) 287-4455.
Wyatt had a habit of keeping busy. If he wasn’t working, he was fishing or dirt biking. He had an energy about him that made his family excited for who he was going to be. There is so much possibility in those teen years. And now his family, friends, and all of Tacoma are deprived of learning the man Wyatt would have become.
In his death, Wyatt helped save eight lives through organ donation.
His family has put together a GoFundMe for funeral expenses and other costs. You can donate by clicking here.
I did not know Wyatt. I can only report what I’ve learned. This is why I encourage the family and friends of Wyatt to click the comment button and share thoughts or memories of him.
- Jack Cameron