Police arrest 2 in Tacoma fatal shooting prosecutors said was gang-related

Tacoma police on Wednesday arrested two men suspected of murder in the May fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man. Pierce County prosecutors previously said the killing was gang-related.

The suspects, ages 23 and 24, were booked into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder for the May 7 fatal shooting of Samuel Garza-Gonzalez. They are the second and third suspects to be arrested for the homicide. Bismar Francisco Andres, 27, was arrested one day after Garza-Gonzalez was shot while in a car with relatives in the city’s Eastside neighborhood.

It’s unclear how police identified the men arrested Wednesday as suspects. In a news release, Tacoma Police Department said detectives and crime scene technicians identified the men through their investigations and developed probable cause for their arrests.

The day of the shooting, police said dispatchers received multiple reports at about 11:17 p.m. of shots fired and the sound of a vehicle speeding away near East 35th and D streets. Officers recovered 20 shell casings from two guns at the scene.

About an hour later, officers learned Garza-Gonzalez had been dropped off at Tacoma General Hospital with a gunshot wound. He died from his injuries before police arrived. The Pierce County medical examiner later ruled the man died of a gunshot to the neck.