Kent man fatally shot in East Hill apartment identified

A 20-year-old Kent man fatally shot inside a East Hill apartment died with a criminal history, including a recent charge in June of residential burglary after he reportedly broke into an occupied Tukwila home.

The man also received a shorter sentence in King County Superior Court for a 2016 assault in exchange for a guilty plea because he was 17 years old at the time of that crime.

Daveon Robbins died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, which ruled his death a homicide. Kent Police are still trying to determine what led to the shooting around 2:55 a.m. Nov. 8 when Robbins was found inside an unit at the Row Apartments, 25614 98th Place S. Officers also found a 27-year-old Seattle man with a gunshot wound to his leg at nearby French Field next to Kent-Meridian High School.

As of Thursday, no arrests had been made in the shooting, the fourth homicide this year in Kent. Detectives said the two men reportedly did not know each other and they have ruled out gangs or drugs in the case, said Assistant Chief Jarod Kasner. Police found two guns reportedly connected to the shooting.

Robbins allegedly confronted a woman and a male friend of hers at the apartment, according to a report this week to the City Council from Chief Administrative Officer Derek Matheson.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Robbins in June with residential burglary. Robbins was booked into the King County jail on July 8 for the charge, but posted $10,000 bail and was released the same day. His burglary case had yet to go to trial, but was dismissed on Wednesday because of his death, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Robbins reportedly entered a home in the 4000 block of South 152nd Street in Tukwila on or about April 2 or 3. He climbed in an open window at the home in the middle of the night, according to charging papers. He tip-toed around the woman’s home as she slept in a bedroom, took a laptop computer from the kitchen and exited out the same window he entered.

Detectives used images of Robbins from cameras inside the home to identify him. Tukwila Police released photos of the suspect via news organizations and social media. An employee with the state Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration recognized Robbins from work as his probation officer.

Detectives tracked down Robbins in June at the Nisqually Tribal Jail in Olympia, where he was being held on a state Department of Corrections violation. When shown photos of himself inside the Tukwila home holding a laptop, Robbins told police the woman was a friend. He denied taking the laptop. The woman told police she did not know Robbins.

Robbins had convictions for second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in 2016 (originally filed as first-degree assault), attempted second-degree robbery in 2014 and felony harassment in 2015, according to charging papers.

Lighter sentence

In 2017, Robbins was the subject of a Seattle Times article headlined, “Kids and crime: King County takes a closer look at juvenile offenders’ immaturity.”

The article began with a description of Robbins, just three months shy of his 18th birthday, in August 2016 sticking a gun in the face of a Tukwila Target store security guard while trying to steal bottles of whiskey and gin. Robbins led police on an 80-mph pursuit in a stolen car until fleeing the vehicle and running into the woods. He then punched and kicked a police dog. Officers found a loaded 9-mm handgun near where the teen was arrested and, in his pocket, more than two grams of heroin, according to the article.

King County prosecutors charged Robbins as an adult, but worked out a plea agreement as prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges in King County began taking steps to tailor prison sentences in adult court that take a youth’s age into account.

In the Target store case, Robbins was charged as an adult with a single crime, second-degree assault. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to just under three years in prison, plus 18 months of community custody, according to the Seattle Times article. Court records show Robbins could have easily been locked up for eight years or longer. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to file additional charges and to dismiss a firearms enhancement that would’ve added five years to his sentence, the records show.