TACOMA, WA – Today Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist charged Nathan Stevenson, 25, with murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree for a Frederickson shooting that killed Robert Ward, 24. The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. today in room 270 of the County-City Building in Tacoma.
On Feb. 16, 2014, the defendant’s friends told him the victim stole a car from them, and the defendant offered to help recover it. The defendant’s plan was to lure the victim to a phony drug deal, beat him up and take the car back. Later that night, when the victim arrived in the parking lot at Canyon Road and 176th Street for the drug deal, the group confronted him. The victim attempted to drive away, but the car’s owner chased him and fired gunshots from a pickup truck. One of the bullets struck the victim in the head, causing him to crash the car. He was transported to the hospital, and died the next day. Ward’s passengers told detectives that the defendant arranged the phony drug deal.
The investigation is ongoing and the shooter remains at-large. Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
