Kent man receives 8-year sentence in 2021 fatal shooting

A 21-year-old Kent man received a prison sentence of eight years and six months for the 2021 fatal shooting of a 34-year-old man after a dispute over a parking spot at a Kent apartment complex.

Judge Elizabeth Berns sentenced Koby M. Cornelius on July 12 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Cornelius pleaded guilty in May to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for reducing the initial second-degree murder charge for the April 4, 2021 shooting of Kent resident Melvin Wilson.

“While Mr. Cornelious was initially charged with murder in the second degree in April 2021, consideration of both factual and legal details specific to both the offender and the offense ultimately informed the state’s decision to resolve the matter in a way that ensured accountability for the criminal act committed by Mr. Cornelious,” said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in a July 19 email.

Friends and family of Wilson and Cornelious were in court for the sentencing, according to court documents.

Cornelious will be given credit for time served. After his release, he will be under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections for three years. Cornelious is in custody at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, according to state Department of Corrections records.

“He was sentenced to the highest term he could have been under the standard sentencing range of 78-102 months, the range set by law for the offense of manslaughter in the first degree and in consideration of his criminal history,” McNerthney said. “Pursuant to the plea and sentencing agreement, as a result of pleading to a reduced charge, Mr. Cornelious was legally precluded from asking that the court to impose anything lower than what prosecutors requested; a period of 102 months (eight years and six months) and the highest term legally allowed.”

Cornelious had a conviction for third-degree assault in 2019 in King County when he was 17.

The crime

A heated argument over an apartment parking spot, the potential towing of a vehicle and racial insults eventually led to the fatal shooting, according to charging documents.

Cornelius shot Wilson in the parking lot of the Alderbrook Apartments, 412 Novak Lane. Initial bail was set at $2 million.

According to court documents, Wilson, of Kent, and his girlfriend left their apartment complex at about 1:30 a.m. to get some food. The girlfriend told Kent Police that they saw a tow truck entering the complex and decided to turn around and warn friends in the hopes that nobody would be towed.

The couple then saw a woman they didn’t know in a vehicle parked south of the E building, not in a parking spot. They asked the woman, who turned out to be the girlfriend of Cornelious, if she needed assistance or was getting towed. The woman responded that she had called for a tow because the vehicle was in her reserved parking spot and she wanted it removed so she could park there.

That’s when the argument started, according to charging documents. Wilson and his girlfriend were upset about the tow because the complex has a lot of low-income residents and tow fees are a financial burden. The argument quickly became heated as the girlfriend of Cornelious started yelling racial slurs at Wilson. She then used her cellphone to call Cornelious, who also lived at the apartment complex and showed up almost immediately.

Cornelious initially acted as a peacemaker, according to Wilson’s girlfriend. He tried to calm down the woman and got her to sit down in the driver’s seat of her car.

Cellphone video collected from witnesses by detectives helped them determine what happened next, according to charging papers.

Wilson and his girlfriend reportedly began to leave but the girlfriend of Cornelious continued to yell racial slurs at Wilson, who then yelled back at her. The woman, who according to detectives in court documents, does not appear to be Black, called Wilson the N-word and told the couple to mind their business.

Wilson reportedly yelled something like, “Bitch, I’ll blow your head off,” as he approached the driver’s side window of the vehicle where the girlfriend of Cornelious sat. He yelled at her to not say the N-word.

Cornelious then reportedly pulled out a gun and without warning fired multiple shots at Wilson. He fired three shots from near the front of the car and then fired four more shots as he advanced on Wilson. Wilson died at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds.

Cornelious, who witnesses described as a Black man, fled the scene on foot. Detectives later tracked him down at the apartment complex and took him into custody without incident.

Detectives did not find a gun during a search of the apartment where Cornelious lived. According to charging documents, his mother and brother had been in the apartment and left before police arrived at the unit. Police found a magazine holder containing one bullet and the bullet reportedly matched the casings found in the parking lot near the shooting.

Cornelious is a 2020 graduate of the iGrad Academy, according to a Kent School District commencement program.

During an interview with detectives, Cornelious denied any involvement with the shooting. He said he had been asleep the whole time, although he said his girlfriend told him something vague about her car and a tow.

Detectives also talked to the tow truck driver who arrived at the apartment complex just prior to the argument and shooting. He said the woman who called him provided her driver’s license and resident parking card showing she had the right to the parking spot. The driver said a couple then arrived and got into an intense argument with the woman, so he left without towing anyone.