A 26-year-old Auburn man was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder in the shooting death Dec. 4 of man outside a home in the south Renton Highlands.
Killed with a single gunshot to his lower back was 26-year-old Joel Ortega who was staying in the house where the shooting occurred outside.
Soretha Diep is being held in the county jail in downtown Seattle on $1 million bail on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
According to prosecutors, Diep was driven to the house in the 4200 block of Southeast Third Street by Chantha Chan Khuy, 25, also of Auburn. Khuy was charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance. He is in the downtown Seattle jail on $250,000 bail.
Their arraignment is Dec 22 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. According to prosecutors, Diep has felony convictions for theft and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Ortega’s death was ruled a homicide this week by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Renton Police received a report of a shooting at 1:16 a.m. Dec. 4. Officers found Ortega lying on the ground, conscious but unresponsive. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he died at about 10:45 a.m.
Diep had arrived at the address at about 1 a.m. with three other men, including the estranged husband of a woman who lives in the house, according to prosecutors.
The estranged husband argued with a relative inside the house. According to prosecutors, the estranged husband believed the relative and his wife “have something going on.”
At some point, Diep and Khuy also came inside. The fight moved outside. Ortega and another man where trying to push Diep and Khuy from the house.
According to prosecutors, Diep, known as “Black,” pointed a black pistol at one of the men, then struck him with the gun below his left eye.
Diep got into the car, a silver Acura, which drove off. The Acura returned, when the estranged husband ran toward the road.
According to prosecutors, as the Acura slowed in front of the house, witnesses reported that Diep was either standing up through the sunroof or hanging out the front passenger window while firing a black pistol toward those in the front yard.
Two “pops” of the gun were heard. Ortega and the estranged husband were going over a fence into a driveway. One of the rounds hit Ortega; the estranged husband took off his shirt to apply pressure to the wound.
The Acura fled westbound toward Union Avenue Southeast. Responding Renton Police officers stopped the Acura in the 3900 block of Northeast Fourth Street.
Khuy and Diep were asked where they were coming from. Diep responded, “I’m not sure, we drove a buddy home. That is it.”
Detectives found a black Ruger 45-caliber automatic pistol and one magazine loaded with seven cartridges inside the center console.
The next day, the man who had been hit in the face with the gun, called police to change his story, according to prosecutors. He said the estranged husband brought the gun into the house but then gave it to Diep when the fight moved outside.
