A 39-year-old Kent man faces a second-degree murder charge for allegedly shooting a man on Aug. 31 outside of a Motel 6 in SeaTac.
Rodney Candies Wheeler, also faces charges of second-degree assault for shooting and injuring a second man inside the motel and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Wheeler remains in custody at the King County jail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent with bail set at $1 million. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 20 at the RJC, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
King County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Wheeler on Tuesday after tracking him down through witnesses, motel video surveillance, cellphone records and two women he had reportedly sold heroin to in a Motel 6 room earlier in the night on Aug. 31, according to charging papers. The motel is at 18900 47th Ave. S.
The incident began at about 9:58 p.m. when police were dispatched to reports of shots fired at the motel. Deputies found Justin M. Love, 28, dead in the motel parking lot from a gunshot wound to the chest. Love, of Oregon, was staying at the motel while working construction in the area.
Co-workers of Love told detectives that a man, later identified as Wheeler, had thrown a rock at their window and had done the same thing to them a week prior at the motel. Two of the men left the room to go outside to confront Wheeler, who had climbed a fence to get to his parked vehicle.
The men got into a verbal argument and Love began to climb the fence to get to Wheeler. Wheeler then pulled out a gun and fired a shot that missed the men. He then fired a second shot that hit Love in the chest. Wheeler then got in his vehicle and drove away.
The first shot fired by Wheeler reportedly entered a motel room and struck a man in the back while he stood between two beds in the room. Paramedics transported the man to Valley Medical Center in Renton. He is expected to make a full recovery from the gunshot wound.
Wheeler has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for fourth-degree assault in 2013, tampering with a witness in 2008, fourth-degree assault in 1999 and several drug charges.
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