Two police chases in Western Washington involving teens in stolen cars, too young to even have a license.
The spike in juvenile crimes is hitting Pierce County particularly hard.
“What I normally see in the recent year-and-a half is that our biggest crimes that we’re having are being committed by younger and younger people,” said Sgt. Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. “Violent crime has increased across the entire state, but specifically in our region, a lot of our shootings are victims who are 13, 15-year-old kids, 19 year-old-kids,” Moss said.
Multiple teens have been killed in Tacoma over the past six months. A 16-year-old boy was shot and died in January. That same month, a 14-year-old boy was also killed in gun violence. A 14-year-old girl was shot and killed in July of 2022.
