SEATTLE — On Wednesday morning, a judge signed off on the release of the 15-year-old arrested in connection to the Bite of Seattle shooting from juvenile detention to electronic home monitoring.
“At this stage in the proceedings where we are, probable cause was found, he was kept, and now new evidence has indicated that there may be some other things at issue,” Judge Veronica Galvan said, noting disparities in how other youth with similar circumstances have been treated by the prosecutor’s office. “There’s a colorable claim of self defense.”
“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,” Galvan added.
Seattle police arrested the teen after he was seen shooting at the event in July, where three people died and four others, including a 2-year-old child, were injured. KOMO News is not naming the teen because he is a minor, though King County prosecutors intend to push for the teen to be tried as an adult.
Attorneys for the 15-year-old argued that no ballistic evidence connects the teen with any of the deaths or injuries in the shooting. A witness also told police the teen only began shooting after another suspect shot first.
“[He] recognizes his actions were dangerous and inappropriate, and he’s committed to learning from his mistakes,” the teen’s defense attorney, Hong Tran, told the court during Wednesday morning’s hearing. “He really just wants to reconnect with his family and continue the process of healing from his traumas.”
However, prosecutors argued that the teen is a threat to community safety, writing in court documents that “there is no greater threat to the community than a person indiscriminately firing into a crowd of adults and children who only wanted to attend and enjoy the Bite of Seattle.”
Prosecutors maintain the teen fired at least three times into a crowd of innocent people, and the ghost gun recovered from him had an extended magazine capable of holding 33 rounds and a vanity base plate that read, “1 SHOT, 1 KILL.”
According to court records, a video captured at a home before the Bite of Seattle shows the teen and a group of others with 11 firearms on the ground, including the teen’s ghost gun and a Glock 45 9mm that was also recovered at the shooting scene. The Glock 45 9mm has been connected with the death of at least one victim, 44-year-old Carlos Villalba, and DNA from 19-year-old Junior Niko Semo, who also died in the shooting and was an associate of the 15-year-old’s, was reportedly found on that gun. Ashley Whitehead, 56, was also killed in the shooting, but so far none of the guns recovered during the investigation have been connected to her death.
According to court documents, a video taken at a home before the Bite of Seattle shows the accused 15-year-old and a group of others with 11 firearms on the ground. Prosecutors believe two of the guns used in the Bite of Seattle shooting are seen in this video. (Courtesy: King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office)
Evidence from other victims also shows there is at least one other unknown shooter involved.
“There’s been a new bullet fragment recovered from a food vendor that was recently turned over to the Seattle Police Department that has been submitted for DNA and ballistics earlier last week,” King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Logan Bryant told the court Wednesday.
The teen is set to be released to electronic home monitoring at his father’s home and is to have 24-hour supervision by an adult. The teen is also to participate in mental health treatment and is to have no new law violations. Judge Galvan set an extra review hearing to check if the teen is in compliance with the court’s orders for Nov. 10 at 9 a.m.
The teen’s father told the court the 15-year-old is currently enrolled in online school and ensured there will be an adult home at all times to supervise him.
In previous court filings, King County prosecutors also noted the teen’s brother was placed onto electronic home monitoring (EHM) in a separate, unrelated case in May, and alerts showed he may have tampered with or taken off the tracker in August. “When supervisors reached out to the mother, she was not responsive,” prosecutors wrote in court documents. “Again, the State is raising this additional information out of an abundance of caution if any part of a release plan is to include EHM or family supervision since it appears there has been recent issues with such a plan or condition.”
“This is an opportunity to address the needs that you have in community,” Galvan told the teen in court Wednesday. “I expect you to be attending mental health or therapeutic programming recommended by any assessments.”
After his November review, the teen is due back in court in December for a status hearing and in January for a decline hearing where both sides will make arguments for whether the teen should face charges as an adult.
