Kent man faces potential murder charges in double shooting
Published 4:36 pm Thursday, April 9, 2026
A 34-year-old Kent man faces a potential charge of two counts of second-degree murder for allegedly shooting two men found in the backyard of an East Hill home at 12009 SE 210th Pl., just southeast of Kentridge High School.
Deangelo Cyrus Lynch made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon, April 9 after Kent Police arrested him for investigation of murder April 8 in the fatal double shooting the night of April 7.
A judge found probable cause for Lynch’s arrest and to hold him in the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle with bail set at $5 million, according to an email from Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“In all types of cases, it is routinely in the days after a first appearance hearing that police investigators send a case referral to prosecutors for a charging decision,” McNerthney said. “King County prosecutors do not have that felony case referral from police now but anticipate getting that case referral from police investigators by Monday (April 13) for a charging decision.”
Denzel Pressley, 26, of Federal Way, and Doneu Gore, 25, of Seattle, were killed in the shooting, according to probable cause documents. No motive is given for the shooting. The address listed for Lynch in probable cause documents is the same address as the shooting.
Officers responded at about 10:22 p.m. April 7 to the house and found both men in the backyard, one with a gunshot wound to his head and the other with a gunshot wound to his head and abdomen, according to police. Both men died at the scene.
Pressley and Gore each died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the April 9 King County Medical Examiner’s report.
Officers contacted Lynch and a 28-year-old woman after the shooting. A witness reportedly told police that Lynch had tossed a gun into bushes near the front yard of the house where the shooting occurred. A K-9 unit reportedly found a 9mm pistol in the bushes.
As officers and detectives were photographing and processing the backyard, they located 9mm casings located near both victims, according to probable cause documents.
Officers canvassed the area and located video surveillance footage that showed Lynch as he was approached by a neighbor. Lynch reportedly said to the neighbor, “everything is under control” and “the person who shot first is back there down.”
Detectives interviewed Lynch who denied involvement in the shooting that took place. He also denied tossing the gun into the bushes near the front yard of the residence. Later during the interview, when he was confronted about what witnesses saw, Lynch reportedly admitted to picking up a gun he found on the front porch and moving it because of the commotion. He continued to deny ever being in the back yard.
Officers and detectives were able to canvass the area of the residence and located a video that has an angled view of the back yard of 12009 SE 210th Pl. In the video, a person who allegedly appears to be Lynch pointing a gun towards the area where the victims were found and then firing four shots.
The video also allegedly shows a man with blonde hair, similar to Lynch’s hair, along with the back of the sweatshirt that has distinct imaging/designs consistent with what Lynch was photographed wearing on scene and consistent with what Lynch was wearing when interviewed by detectives, according to probable cause documents.
Police did not take Lynch into custody the night of the shooting but arrested him the next day at an address in the 10800 block of SE 200th Street in Kent. Valley SWAT assisted with the arrest. Officers took Lynch into custody without incident.
GoFundMe for Pressley
The mother of Denzel Pressley started a GoFundMe account for her son to help pay for his funeral memorial expenses.
“My heart is shattered as I write this,” wrote Briget Pressley on the post. “Last night (April 7), my son, Denzel Pressley, was taken from me in a senseless act of violence. No parent should ever have to experience this kind of pain—the kind that comes from losing a child so suddenly, without warning, and without the chance to say goodbye.”
Briget Pressley described her son.
“Denzel was more than just my son—he was a light in my life and in the lives of everyone who knew him,” she wrote. “He had a presence that could lift a room, a smile that brought comfort, and a spirit that deserved so much more time in this world. He was someone who mattered deeply, and his life meant everything to me.”
She tried to summarize the impact on her life of losing her son.
“Everything happened so fast,” she wrote. “One moment he was here, and the next, our lives were changed forever. The shock, the grief, and the pain are overwhelming. I’m still trying to process how something like this could happen, how someone so full of life could be gone in an instant.”
