Another dismissal in a homicide at a Hosmer Street motel. Charges dropped in shooting

Murder charges have been dismissed against a man accused of fatally shooting a person in the parking lot of a motel on South Hosmer Street in Tacoma. Prosecutors said they couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect did it.

Damar McCall, 45, had been facing two counts of second-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Those charges were dismissed in April, and he was released from custody.

McCall was arrested a little more than a week after the Jan. 25, 2022 death of Demonte Nettles Williams, 29. Investigators allegedly had surveillance video that showed him and his Lincoln Town Car at the Howard Johnson motel during the shooting. When detectives caught up to him in Lakewood, McCall reportedly said his car had been stolen about two weeks prior, and he claimed to have been stuck in traffic near Fircrest when he learned about the shooting.

Phone records for McCall also allegedly placed him near the Howard Johnson at the time of the homicide, and a motel employee who identified him by a street name reportedly told police he’d caused problems there before.

Charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile them if circumstances change.

It is second murder case from South Hosmer Street dismissed this year. In the nine months between September 2021 and July 2022, six people were killed at hotels or motels on the half-mile strip in the city’s South End, according to previous reporting from The News Tribune. In March, charges were dropped against a man accused of killing 35-year-old Antonio Robinson in the parking lot of the Econo Lodge. Key witnesses couldn’t be located.

Among the six murder cases, five people were arrested and charged, and one defendant pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. Two cases are pending, and the April 12, 2022 shooting of 25-year-old Astina Messieur remains unsolved.

In this case, court records say Williams was killed when he walked out of a motel room sometime before 4:40 p.m. and approached a car. Records state an altercation ensued, and Williams struck the driver. A woman got out of the passenger seat and backed away, and soon after Williams could be seen staggering backward before falling to the ground. The Pierce County medical examiner found he died of a single gunshot to the chest.

The Howard Johnson, 8726 S. Hosmer Street, sold for $4.8 million in June 2021 to two limited liability companies connected to Seattle-based Integrated Property Management. According to an investigation by The News Tribune of crime on Hosmer Street, the former motel was one of the most problematic lodging establishments, prompting more than 1000 police calls for service between 2018 and 2021.