TACOMA, Wash. — A 14-year-old girl was shot and killed in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood around noon Wednesday.
According to the Tacoma Police Department, a group of juveniles was inside a car in the area of 19th and MLK Jr Way when someone shot at them. Police said a 14-year-old girl inside the vehicle was struck by the gunfire.
Police said the victims drove the car to the 1900 block of South Ainsworth and called for medical help. Responding officers gave the girl life-saving measures, but a teenager was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tacoma police asked people to stay away from the area of South 19th Street and MLK Jr. Way while the scene remained active. The intersection reopened around 7 p.m.
The shooting is being investigated as a homicide. No suspect information has been released at this time.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 1-800-222-TIPS.
This deadly shooting comes days after five people were shot in Tacoma over the weekend.
A man was injured in a drive-by shooting Sunday evening near the intersection of South 47th Street and South Tacoma Way around 5:40 p.m.
Hours after the drive-by shooting, police said a “neighborhood dispute” led to another shooting on Sunday evening. Four adults were injured in the shooting and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The recent spate of violence has been a recurring issue in Tacoma, which had two mass shootings in a 24-hour span in late June. Eight people were injured on June 26 after a large crowd was attending a rave on South Tacoma Way. All eight shooting victims were considered in stable condition, according to TPD. The victims were between 17 and 22 years old.
Tacoma's homicide rate has been more than twice as high as last year’s rate at the same point in the year.
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