King County prosecutors filed a first-degree murder charge Friday against a 15-year-old Kent teenage boy in connection with the Oct. 30 shooting death of a 16-year-old boy in the Boulevard Park neighborhood, south of Seattle. They also filed a first-degree robbery charge that day against a second 15-year-old Kent boy in connection with the shooting death.
The two Kent boys allegedly robbed a 16-year-old boy of marijuana during a drug deal. One of the Kent boys reportedly shot the boy, identified as James Jametsky, once in the chest with a .40-caliber handgun, according to charging papers.
King County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested the two Kent boys last week in connection with the death.
Deputies arrested one of the boys, who was 14 at the time of the shooting and who has since turned 15, on Nov. 4 for investigation of homicide. Detectives allege the teen fired a gun from the passenger side of a vehicle driven by the second Kent teen.
Deputies arrested the second Kent boy Thursday for investigation of robbery. The two juveniles were booked into the King County Youth Services Center in Seattle.
Jametsky reportedly was shot at about 8:15 p.m. Oct. 30 in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 1800 block of South 118th Street. He died in the parking lot. He was at the apartment to babysit a 3-year-old nephew.
Detectives allege Jametsky was selling marijuana in the parking lot to the two Kent boys when he was shot. The two Kent teens were inside a white Toyota Tercel.
The Kent boys had planned to rob Jametsky rather than paying for the marijuana, according to the charging papers. When one of the boys smelled the marijuana, he showed Jametsky the pistol and told him the marijuana now belonged to him.
The Kent teen accused of being the gunman told detectives that he accidentally shot Jametsky. The second Kent boy said Jametsky was shot after he tried to grab the marijuana from the boy with the gun.
Detectives were able to find the boys through cell-phone company records through the Global Positioning Satellite system, which shows phone locations. Detectives recovered the cell phone used by Jametsky that had the number of the cell used by one of the Kent boys just before the shooting.
Witnesses also gave detectives a description of the car the Kent teens reportedly were using.
After the shooting, friends of the Kent teens hid the handgun at another friend’s home and hid the Toyota Tercel at a site near Central Avenue in Kent. Detectives recovered the gun and the car.
Prosecutors also filed a charge of violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act against the alleged gunman, in connection with a separate incident of the teen selling marijuana to an undercover officer on Oct. 10 in a business parking lot near Southeast 208th Street and 108th Avenue Southeast.
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