According to the Washington State Patrol, the death of Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting Friday night brings the total number of troopers killed while on duty to 34 in the agency’s 105-year history.
Trooper Guting, 29, died Friday evening while working along southbound State Route 509 in Tacoma.
The patrol said she was outside her vehicle investigating a two-car crash near milepost 2, south of the Port of Tacoma, when another vehicle struck her shortly before 7:30 p.m.
People already at the scene attempted to help, but she later died from her injuries.
The Tacoma Police Department is leading the investigation into what led to the crash.
Guting had only recently begun her career with the Washington State Patrol.
She joined the agency as a trooper cadet in January 2024, graduated with the 119th Trooper Basic Training Class and was commissioned on Oct. 30. She was assigned to District 1 in Tacoma.
In a statement, the patrol said her death is deeply felt across the agency and by her family, including her husband, Timothy, a deputy state fire marshal at the patrol’s Fire Training Academy in North Bend.
“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,” Chief John R. Batiste said. “We will never forget Badge #720 – Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting.”
“The sky has poured rain on us all for the past two weeks,” he added. “And with this loss, now tears flood our souls.”
Guting was born July 19, 1996, in Honolulu to Russell and Cheryl Hirata.
She graduated from Mililani High School in 2014 and soon after enlisted in the Army National Guard, beginning a career in public service.
She served eight years as a signal intelligence analyst and completed her military service honorably in October 2022.
She married Timothy in August 2019 at the Fire Training Academy.
Her death is the most recent in a long list of patrol members who have died while serving Washington residents.
In 2024, Trooper Christopher M. Gadd, 27, died after being struck by a motorist on Interstate 5 near Marysville.
In 2021, Detective Eric T. Gunderson died after contracting COVID-19 while training officers at a conference.
Trooper Justin R. Schaffer died in 2020 after being struck by a vehicle while placing spike strips on Interstate 5 in Chehalis.
The patrol’s history shows that traffic-related incidents have been a recurring danger for decades.
Troopers and patrolmen have been struck while directing traffic, assisting motorists, investigating crashes or conducting stops on highways across the state — from Long Beach to Spokane, from Seattle to Pasco.
Other deaths occurred during motorcycle crashes, medical emergencies while on assignment, acts of violence and rescue efforts, including one patrolman who died in 1957 while trying to save a teenager caught in ocean surf.
The earliest recorded on-duty death in the patrol’s history dates back to 1923, when Patrolman Vernon Fortin died after a motorcycle collision while traveling to traffic duty at the Lynden fair.
As the agency marks more than a century of service, patrol leaders said each name represents a life devoted to public safety and a family forever changed.
Guting’s death now stands alongside those 33 others, a reminder of the risks troopers face every day on Washington’s roads.
©2025 Cox Media Group
