At a detention hearing on Wednesday, King County Superior Court Judge Veronica Galván granted the request to release the teenage suspect in the Bite of Seattle shooting from secure detention. Documents released by the Superior Court clerk say the 15-year-old suspect will be under electronic monitoring at his father’s home while his case makes its way through court.
At a detention hearing on Wednesday, King County Superior Court Judge Veronica Galván granted the request to release the teenage suspect in the Bite of Seattle shooting from secure detention. Documents released by the Superior Court clerk say the 15-year-old suspect will be under electronic monitoring at his father’s home while his case makes its way through court.
The teen is accused of firing into a crowd with an illegally manufactured handgun, known as a ghost gun. He has been charged with first degree assault with a firearm with an extended magazine and illegally possessing a firearm in the second degree.
At the hearing, prosecutors argued that the suspect should continue to be held in secure detention because he is still a threat to the community. His defense attorney, Hong Tran, told the judge that the 15-year-old recognizes that “his actions were dangerous and inappropriate, and he's committed to learning from his mistakes.”
The young suspect will remain in the custody of his father and stepmother. He will be required to be under 24-hour adult supervision. Galván noted that he may be able to plausibly claim that he was acting in self-defense and that, in similar incidents, individuals have been released from secure detention.
“This court, in other situations with these types of allegations, has placed individuals on conditions in community, and the court will do so in this circumstance,” Galván said.
The judge also noted that a similar case involving a young defendant was recently before Superior Court, but that prosecutors were only seeking to have the 15-year-old suspect of the Bite of Seattle shooting tried as an adult. Their request for the teen to be tried as an adult is pending.
“When we talk about fairness and justice, we have to make sure that we're doing the same thing in the light of day, and that we're doing the same thing when nobody's there,” she said.
The teen is the only person so far who has been arrested in connection with the Bite of Seattle shooting, but the investigation is ongoing.
Investigators found multiple guns at the scene and initially reported that the shooting may have been gang-related. According to documents filed by the prosecution earlier in the week, there is no ballistic evidence linking bullets fired by the suspect’s gun to any of the shooting victims. However, prosecutors noted that an additional bullet fragment obtained by police is still being analyzed.
The documents also detailed how the 15-year-old, whom they refer to as the “respondent,” met up with others before heading to Bite of Seattle, including Junior Cee Niko Semo, who was killed during the shooting.
“It appears that the respondent met with a group of approximately ten males at a residence prior to the Bite of Seattle,” according to the court filings. Prosecutors wrote that the suspect and Niko Semo “appear to be friends and associates to the point where they arranged to meet prior to the Bite of Seattle, with others, and then armed themselves with firearms.”
At the gathering, video captured showed 11 firearms. Ballistic evidence connected a Glock 45 9 mm to at least one death at the Bite of Seattle shooting and, according to prosecutors, Niko Semo was armed with this type of weapon.
Now, to remain out of secure detention, the 15-year-old must meet certain requirements. He will have to check in with his probation counselor three times a week and is barred from contacting any of the surviving shooting victims and Seattle Center.
