Community Police & Fire

Medical examiner identifies victim in Ray Nash Drive shooting

The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office identified Reginald Anderson-Taylor as the man shot and killed at a home on Ray Nash Drive on June 26.

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Anderson-Taylor was a 39-year-old Gig Harbor resident. The Medical Examiner’s Office said he died of a gunshot wound to the torso and ruled the death a homicide.

Pierce County prosecutors on Monday charged Melissa Dawn Wells, 34, with a count of second-degree murder and a count of first-degree manslaughter in Anderson-Taylor’s death. Charging documents did not identify the victim by name.

Wells pleaded not guilty to the charges. She remains in the Pierce County Jail on $1 million bail.

Documents filed by prosecutors in the case indicate that Wells and Anderson-Taylor consumed a half-gallon of vodka, several beers and cocaine in the hours leading up to the shooting.

Wells, Anderson-Taylor’s girlfriend, told detectives she experienced extreme paranoia before the shooting and thought an intruder was inside their home. A deputy wrote that Wells “seemed to be in a psychosis (disconnected from reality)” when law enforcement detained her around 10 p.m. on June 26.

Three children were at the home when the shooting occurred.