Eight arrested in Tacoma beating death

Residents not warned of marauding teen gang blamed in a dozen attacks

Tuesday, August 29, 2000

By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

TACOMA — Eight youths ranging in age from 11 to 19 who were part of a
marauding gang of teenagers are suspected of committing a dozen “thrill”
attacks near Wright Park, including one that killed a 30-year-old man.

Police spokesman Jim Mattheis said officers began arresting the youths
Monday following a week of undercover work and tips into the random
attacks.

“Basically, that’s what they were doing – killing for the thrill,” Mattheis said.

The youngest of the youths would be entering sixth grade next week and is
believed to be the youngest person ever facing a murder charge in Pierce
County. Several suspects burst into tears when police arrived to arrest them.
(See latest story.)

Residents had criticized Tacoma police for failing to
warn them of the danger until one of the attacks
turned deadly. Erik Toews died Friday from injuries
received when he was savagely beaten while
walking home alone on Aug. 19.

Toews, who was working two jobs to help support his mother and brother,
was assaulted by a group of 13- to 15-year-old youths on Aug. 19 in the
1300 block of North Fourth Street near the historic Stadium District.

“This wouldn’t have happened if he had known
about the earlier assaults,” an angry Jesse
Kimmerling, a friend of the 30-year-old victim, said yesterday.

Police, however, insisted they acted as quickly as possible and said they
hesitated to issue any public warnings because they didn’t know whether they
were dealing with unrelated incidents or a large number of assaults committed
by one group of teenagers.

Detectives didn’t notice a pattern in the attacks until last Tuesday and then
spent Wednesday and Thursday nights working undercover in the
neighborhoods near the park, Mattheis said.

The delay in noticing a pattern was caused in part by the fact that the attacks
occurred over a widespread area and the circumstances varied, the police
spokesman said.

Some attacks in the Stadium District and the Hilltop and Wright Park
neighborhoods were reported as robbery attempts; others came in as
attempted bike thefts and assaults, he said.

Police said they have no reason to believe the attacks were racially motivated,
although all of the attackers were described as being black or Hispanic and all
but one of the victims was white.

Police stepped up patrols in the three adjoining neighborhoods, which feature
many stately old homes with nicely landscaped yards, but also have a
significant number of low-income residences. Toews was attacked in the
Stadium District, the most affluent of the three neighborhoods.

The area where the fatal beating occurred attracts a large number of
non-residents because Tacoma General and Mary Bridge hospitals are in the
immediate area.

Both hospitals issued warnings to their employees yesterday, telling them of the
attacks and suggesting they walk in groups or call hospital security for escort
to their vehicles, said Todd Kelley, spokesman for both hospitals.

Toews was walking home from his job at The Usual Coffee and News shop
when he was attacked. He also worked at a Relax the Back store.

Dan Zimmer, regional manager at Relax the Back, yesterday bemoaned the
fact that Toews was unaware he was taking an unusually high risk walking
home alone at 10 p.m.

“Maybe this could have been avoided and Erik would still be talking to us if he
knew it was not safe to walk in that area, if the police had made the population
aware this was going on,” Zimmer said.

“I don’t know if it would have made a difference. Maybe he would have
walked home anyway. But you should be able to walk around any part of the
city and be safe,” he said.

“It was just pure evil; that’s what it was.”

Dale Ladenburg, who lives just a block away from the street where Toews
was killed, said he felt police “were slow in getting the word out” about the
series of attacks.

The fatal assault was “very unusual for this neighborhood,” said Ladenburg,
brother of Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg. “This is usually a very
quiet neighborhood.”

Lisa Ganung, who lives on the street where the killing occurred, said she could
understand why police didn’t warn residents before Toews was attacked.

“They said they just started to connect the attacks,” Ganung said. “And if that’s
true, then I think they have done everything they should have done. If these
had been just separate incidents and they started warning people after just one
or two of them, they would have ended up scaring people.”

Ganung said she and her child don’t go out at night because of the attacks.

“And I don’t let my husband go out at night either,” she said.

Toews’ friends, meanwhile, described him yesterday as the kind of person
who went out of his way to avoid trouble and help others whenever he could.

“He was incredibly kind,” Kimmerling said.

“He really listened to people and he really connected with people.”

Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers offered a $1,000 reward for
information regarding the attacks. The agency can be reached by calling
253-591-5959.