Charges have yet to be filed in Renton’s first homicide of the year, a shooting death May 23, as Renton Police detectives and county prosecutors work to gather additional information in the case.
The shooting occurred in the early morning hours on Ripley Lane near the Northeast 44th Street exit on Interstate 405 in north Kennydale, apparently over a $40 drug debt, according to investigators.
State law requires that prosecutors file charges within 72 hours or free someone who is being held in custody. In this case, the suspect remains in jail in an unrelated case in Kent that’s expect to go to trial in the next several weeks.
Ian Goodhew, deputy chief of staff for county Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, said Monday prosecutors and detectives are are still gathering information.
Not all investigations, including those involving a death, result in the immediate filing of charges, he said. Some homicide investigations can take years, he said, while a suspect is free.
According to Goodhew, before filing charges, prosecutors “have to explore” whether they have the right person, whether charges would hold up in court and what defenses the suspect might use.
Once an investigation is done, it’s possible that prosecutors won’t file charges, he said. That decision could take some time in this case, he said.
A senior homicide prosecutor responded to the scene May 23, part of the Prosecutor’s Office’s Most Dangerous Offender Project.
The suspect in the case, a 29-year-old Seattle man, is being held in the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent in connection with the shooting death of a Federal Way man on Lake Washington Boulevard.
Bail was set at $2 million at an arraignment. RentonReporter.com isn’t naming the suspect because he has yet to be charged.
Alex Landin, 31, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. His death was ruled a homicide.
The shooting occurred at about 2:25 a.m. Saturday in the 4400 block block of Lake Washington Boulevard, according to Cline, where the road skirts Interstate 405.
The suspect was taken into custody at about 9:45 a.m. about three blocks away.
According to documents from the King County Prosecutor’s Office, Landin was found dead on the edge of the roadway at Ripley Lane and Lake Washington Boulevard. A small sledge hammer was found under his body.
A witness told police that the suspect was upset with Landin because he owed him $40. The witness, a friend of Landin’s, and Landin agreed to meet the suspect at the Northeast 44th Street exit of I-405 near the Seahawks’ training facility.
The suspect was sitting on a guard rail when they arrived. Landin walked toward the suspect, who, according to documents, pulled out what appeared to be a black semi-automatic pistol and fired two or three times when Landin was eight to 10 feet away. Landin stumbled away and the suspect drove off in a white Honda Accord belonging to Landin’s girlfriend.
The friend held Landin until he thought he was dead, according to the documents. He called 911 at 2:29 a.m.
The suspect is familiar to Renton police, according to the documents. Because the suspect was armed and at large, Renton Police submitted an “immediate threat/public safety waiver” to Verizon Wireless in order to get information about the suspect’s cell-phone calls.
Using those cell records and cell towers, Renton detectives traced the suspect to a nearby motel. The suspect was apprehended smoking a cigarette while walking away from the Guest House Suites.
The suspect was not carrying a weapon when he was arrested. According to the court documents, the suspect is a convicted felon.
“The seriousness of this crime does not merit release as he will surely flee,” according to the documents. “[He] presents a danger to the public and deals with and uses narcotics.”
