Pacific Sports Center

Manuel Ellis was a 33-year-old African American man who died on March 3, 2020, during an arrest by police officers in Tacoma, Washington. The Pierce County Sheriff's Department initially claimed that Ellis had attacked a police car and then attacked officers, leading to the arrest. State prosecutors quoted civilian witnesses as saying that Ellis did not attack the police car or officers; they also said it was the officers who initiated the use of physical force on Ellis after a conversation. Video of the incident showed officers repeatedly punching Ellis, choking him, using a Taser, and kneeling on him. State prosecutors stated that "Ellis was not fighting back", citing witness statements and video evidence. A police radio recording showed that Ellis said he "can’t breathe". Ellis told officers "can't breathe, sir" multiple times, according to prosecutors. Ellis was hogtied, face-down, with an officer on him, for at least six minutes, and a spit hood was placed on his head in this position, stated prosecutors. Ellis died at the scene while receiving medical aid from paramedics.In early June 2020, Ellis's death was ruled by county medical examiner Thomas Clark as a homicide due to "hypoxia due to physical restraint", and with "contributing conditions of methamphetamine intoxication and a dilated heart". Prosecutors, in May 2021 documents, quoted Clark as saying that additional evidence that emerged after the autopsy concluded indicated that "Ellis's death was not likely caused by methamphetamine intoxication", and further indicated that restraint caused the death.After Ellis's death, four Tacoma police officers were placed on paid administrative leave; they returned to work two weeks later, with the Tacoma police department stating "there were no known departmental violations". The Pierce County Sheriff's Department conducted a three-month investigation into Ellis's death before disclosing that a Pierce County deputy was present during Ellis's arrest. As a result, in mid-June 2020, Governor of Washington Jay Inslee ordered a new investigation by the Washington State Patrol, while the Washington Attorney General would decide potential criminal charges. In May 2021, Washington prosecutors charged two Tacoma police officers, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, with second degree murder for the killing of Ellis, and charged another Tacoma police officer, Timothy Rankine, with first degree manslaughter.

South Tacoma station is a commuter rail station in Tacoma, Washington, United States, served by the S Line of the Sounder commuter rail network. It is located near the Tacoma Mall along South Tacoma Way at South 56th Street and consists of a single platform and a 220-stall park-and-ride lot. Construction on the station began in early 2008 and the park-and-ride lot opened in February 2009, with service from a temporary express bus that operated until Sounder service began in October 2012.

The Tacoma Mausoleum is a mausoleum in Tacoma, Washington, United States. Built in 1910, the mausoleum was the first such structure in the U.S. to be built west of the Mississippi River. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. In 1918, the mausoleum was sued by David Rea and his wife, who claimed that the existence of a mausoleum near homes constituted a nuisance. They were suing in an attempt to prevent the already built mausoleum from adding further structures on its premises, but the Washington Supreme Court ruled against them.

Clover Park Technical College (CPTC) is a community college in Lakewood, Washington. There is also a smaller campus located at Thun Field in Puyallup, Washington (South Hill), for Aviation Training.

Tacoma Speedway (sometimes called Pacific Speedway or Tacoma-Pacific Speedway) was a 2-mile (3.2 km) (approximate) wooden board track for automobile racing that operated from 1914 to 1922 near Tacoma, Washington. In its time, the track was renowned nationwide and was considered by some to be second only to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Notable racers such as Barney Oldfield, Eddie Rickenbacker, Ralph DePalma, and both Louis and Gaston Chevrolet, were drawn to race for purses of up to $25,000 (approximately $573,000 in 2012 dollars). Before long, the track acquired a reputation for being dangerous. After an arson fire destroyed the wooden grandstands in 1920, the facility was rebuilt but failed financially and racing ended two years later. The site later became an airport and then a naval supply depot during World War II, and today is occupied by the campus of Clover Park Technical College and neighboring commercial sites in Lakewood, Washington.

Mount Tahoma High School is a high school in Tacoma, Washington. It opened in 1961 and is a part of the Tacoma Public Schools. The school's mascot is the Thunderbird as a [Native American] symbolism for power, protection, and strength.

The Tacoma Mall is the largest shopping center in Tacoma, Washington, and is owned and operated by the Simon Property Group. Anchor tenants include Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney (originally two levels, but added a third level in 1986), Macy's (originally The Bon Marché), and Nordstrom, with one vacant anchor last occupied by Sears, which opened in 1981. The mall opened on October 13, 1965. Another former anchor was Liberty House, which opened in 1974 (briefly Liberty House/Rhodes, with the Rhodes name later dropped, later Frederick & Nelson, then Mervyn's), which was demolished for the current location of Nordstrom, which relocated from an anchor that was originally Nordstrom Best, with the Best name dropped in 1972, and expanded from 55,000 square feet to 134,000 square feet in 1983, in 2008. The former Nordstrom was divided into Sephora, Apple Store, and Forever 21 in 2010. Forever 21 relocated to a smaller location in 2016, and the former location became a Dick's Sporting Goods in 2017. On May 31, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 72 stores nationwide. The store closed on September 2, 2018.

The Tacoma Mall shooting was an attempted mass murder that occurred on November 20, 2005, at the Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The gunman, Dominick Maldonado, entered the mall with a semi-automatic Norinco MAK-90 rifle and a pistol, injuring six before he instigated four armed kidnappings.

Fire Station No. 10 is a fire station located at 7247 S Park Avenue in Tacoma, Washington. The station was designed by architect Morton J. Nicholson and built by Martin H. Marker in 1928. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1986, as part of a thematic resource, "Historic Fire Stations of Tacoma, Washington".

On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza (now Blue Steele) Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer. Five people, all friends and family of Clemmons, were convicted of crimes associated with aiding his escape and enabling him to elude capture, but most convictions were reversed on appeal, based on court findings of misconduct by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office.

Calvary Cemetery is a cemetery located in Tacoma, Washington. It is the only Catholic cemetery in Tacoma. Its size is 55 acres (220,000 m2). Calvary Cemetery was incorporated in October, 1905. It was founded because Pioneer Catholic Cemetery was filling up and a new cemetery was needed. Prior to 1905, the cemetery was known as Rigney Cemetery. Persons of note buried here are Pip Koehler, a baseball player, and Dorothy Olsen, who was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots which was established in World War II and LaVerne H. Bates, namesake of Bates Technical College. The cemetery contains one British Commonwealth war grave, of a Royal Canadian Air Force officer of World War II.

The Clover Park School District (CPSD) is the fourth largest school district in Pierce County, Washington, United States, and the 28th largest public school district in the state.