In a move met with disapproval by the Renton Police Chief, prosecutors declined to charge two men involved in shooting a 52-year-old man at the Renton Transit Center after the man allegedly hit their friend with a pipe.
On July 16, in a legal analysis memo shared with the Renton Police Department (RPD), the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) declined to file charges against an 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old man who on July 11 are seen on video fighting with and shooting a 52-year-old man after he hit a friend of the two men with a pipe. According to the memo, prosecutors did not think they would be able to prove that the shooting was not done in self-defense.
“The case was reviewed by 10 senior deputy prosecutors, including unit chairs and the chief of our mainstream criminal division. After reviewing the totality of the evidence, including videos frame by frame, each prosecutor came to the conclusion that charges could not be filed because under the law self-defense could not be disproven,” KCPAO spokesperson Casey McNerthney said. “Reviewing the multiple videos, including what preceded the shooting, is key in the legal analysis.”
Initially, following the incident, RPD filed probable cause documents for the 18-year-old and the 20-year-old for a felony assault investigation. The first appearance court then found probable cause for first-degree assault for the 18-year-old and probable cause for second-degree assault for the 20-year-old.
RPD Chief Jon Schuldt stated that he was disappointed in the office’s decision not to charge the men. He said he respects the right to self-defense, but said the level of force the men used was excessive, unjustified under the circumstances and put members of the public at risk.
“I believe there were sufficient facts to charge them appropriately. This is especially troubling at a time when law enforcement and our community are working hard to reduce gun violence. The suspects, aged 18 and 20, are not even legally permitted to possess handguns, which further compounds the seriousness of this incident. Choosing not to pursue charges in a case involving unnecessary violence sends the wrong message,” Schuldt said.
Regarding the 52-year-old man who is alleged to have hit the teen’s friend before the shooting, Schuldt said investigators are currently reviewing the incident for potential misdemeanor charges.
According to the memo, the 52-year-old man is the first aggressor, striking the friend of the men with a PVC pipe for no reason apparent to anyone. The memo said that the friend then tries to defend herself, ineffectively, and then the 20-year-old points a gun at the 52-year-old man, but does not fire.
The memo states that the 52-year-old man does not back away or appear to be frightened when the 20-year-old man points the gun at him, but instead charges at the 20-year-old man. The memo states that the 52-year-old man then begins to grab around the head and neck area of the 20-year-old man and put his fingers in his eyes.
The memo states that the 18-year-old man then hit the 52-year-old man over the head with a gun, but that still did not stop the struggle with the 20-year-old man.
The memo states that the 18-year-old man then shoots the 52-year-old man while he is still struggling with the 20-year-old man, but stops shooting once he disengages from the 20-year-old man.
The memo states that at first appearance, after receiving documents from RPD, the court asked to hold the men on an investigative hold, but at that point, the KCPAO had still not received video of the incident. The memo adds that the documents from the RPD describe parts of the incident differently from what the video shows.
“In fact, the superform describes some parts of this incident differently than the video shows. For instance, in the superform it says that it appears that [the 20-year-old] fired at [the 52-year-old] when he first pointed the gun at [him]. However, upon reviewing all video and hearing the audio from the nearby bus, there are no gunshot sounds during the time that [the 20-year-old] was pointing the gun at [the 52-year-old],” the memo states.
The memo states that the 52-year-old attacked the men’s friend with no provocation, and he was undeterred by several attempts to defuse the situation, including the brandishing of a weapon. The memo states that only after all other efforts to stop the 52-year-old man were exhausted, did the men fire their weapons. The memo states that once the situation was defused, the men stopped firing their weapons.
