TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington State Patrol trooper was struck and killed by a vehicle Friday evening while investigating a traffic collision in Tacoma, marking the 34th line-of-duty death in the agency’s history.
Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting, 29, was standing outside her patrol car investigating a two-vehicle collision when she was struck just before 7:30 p.m. on southbound Highway 509 near milepost 2, south of the Port of Tacoma, the Washington State Patrol said in a news release.
People at the scene provided aid to Guting, but she died from her injuries, according to the patrol. The Tacoma Police Department has taken over the investigation.
Guting began her career with WSP as a trooper cadet in January 2024 and graduated with the 119th Trooper Basic Training Class on Oct. 30, 2024, the patrol said. She served in WSP District 1 in Tacoma.
The trooper’s death deeply affected the WSP community, particularly her husband Timothy, who serves as a deputy state fire marshal at the WSP Fire Training Academy in North Bend, according to the agency.
Guting was born July 19, 1996, to Russell and Cheryl Hirata in Honolulu, Hawaii, the patrol said. She graduated from Mililani High School in Hawaii in May 2014 and enlisted in the Army National Guard in October 2014, where she served as a signal intelligence analyst for eight years until October 2022.
She married Timothy on Aug. 21, 2019, at the Fire Training Academy, according to the patrol.
“My heartfelt condolences go out to Timothy, Tara’s extended family, her friends, her academy classmates, to District 1 Captain Gundermann, and his entire team,” WSP Chief John R. Batiste said in a statement. “We will never forget Badge #720 – Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting.”
“The sky has poured rain on us all for the past two weeks… And with this loss, now tears flood our souls,” Batiste said.
Guting’s death marks the 34th time in WSP’s 105-year history that the agency has lost a trooper in the line of duty, according to the patrol.
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