TACOMA, Wash. — In a new push to bring to light cases that have turned cold the Tacoma Police Department is hopeful someone knows something about a double murder that happened on Thanksgiving in 2002.
Time has yet to heal the wounds for the family of five-year-old Jeremy Britt-Bayinthavong and 19-year-old Kimberly Riley. Both were killed when a shooter sprayed bullets into a south-end Tacoma home just after ten in the evening on Thanksgiving Day, 2002.
“It’s heartbreaking --- I just, it’s somebody that’s completely innocent and has no involvement in anything and…and you can’t do anything about it,” said Tacoma Police Department detective Julie Dier.
Dier and her department are asking for the public’s help as their murders approach the 20-year mark.
“Absolutely, there’s a lot of people that know what happened. It’s a matter of having someone come forward and tell us something that we will be able to follow up on and bring this to a close,” she continued.
Investigators believe the murder was gang-related and possibly targeted – but say that the young woman and child were innocent victims. The suspect shot into a home off 75th street with people celebrating the holiday together.
Members of two families now grieve the day they lost a teenage woman and a young boy.
“It would just be wonderful to find the person responsible for this and get some closure for the families,” Dier continued.
If you have any information about this case or another you’re asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1(800)-222-TIPS.