A 22-year-old Seattle man, arrested in Kent, faces a second-degree murder charge for allegedly shooting a 24-year-old man July 28 near Westfield Southcenter Mall in Tukwila.
Derrion Marche Lewis also faces charges of first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, according to charging papers filed Aug. 4 by King County prosecutors. Lewis, who was arrested Aug. 1 outside a Kent home in the 4600 block of S 214th Way, remains in custody at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle with bail set at $3 million, according to jail records.
Lewis is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Aug. 17 in the GA courtroom of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
“The defendant’s extreme and impulsive act of violence killed one person and narrowly missed wounding another,” wrote Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas O’Ban II in charging documents about the high bail request.
O’Ban also wrote that Lewis has a series of recent, violent convictions and has shown he is a flight risk. He has been convicted of second-degree assault in 2017; participating/aiding in a prison riot in 2019; and fourth-degree assaults in 2015 and twice in 2018.
In this case, surveillance video reportedly shows the defendant exchanging words with, and then firing multiple shots at a male, who appears to be a total stranger, as he is standing just inches away from his female passenger, according to charging documents. The defendant fired these shots at two unarmed people, from the passenger’s seat, as his car was driving away.
Dequan McFadden died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. He died at the shooting scene. A friend of McFadden told Tukwila Police McFadden had moved to the area about a year ago from Baltimore and added that she didn’t know of any problems he had with anybody.
At about 2:06 p.m. July 28, Tukwila Police officers were dispatched to the Chevron parking lot, 220 Strander Blvd., just south of Southcenter Mall, in reference to a shooting. Dispatched advised of one man on the ground and a shooter fleeing in a white vehicle.
Video surveillance from the Chevron station showed a white Dodge Challenger parked at one of the pumps, according to charging documents. Lewis reportedly exited the vehicle and walked into the store. He paid for gas and left the store.
He returned to pump gas into the car and when finished went back to the passenger’s seat. A female driver exited the Challenger and went inside the store to buy cigarettes.
A silver Audi drove into the parking lot and parked next to the Challenger. McFadden exited the car as the woman driver passed in front of the Audi and Lewis opened his passenger door. There was some type of exchange of words among the three, according to charging papers.
McFadden walked towards the store but then walked back to the Audi to reach in and get his wallet from his friend in the car. The Challenger then began to drive away and Lewis reportedly fired six shots at the Audi, striking McFadden at least twice and the car twice. Video surveillance showed Lewis firing the shots, according to court documents.
Tukwila Police released a photo of Lewis from the video to other law enforcement agencies. A state Department of Corrections officer responded and identified Lewis as the man in the photo and said she is his community corrections officer and recognized him from in-person meetings.
A Seattle Police detective reached out to Tukwila detectives and said that he is working on a case involving Lewis and that police have an active ping tracker on the known phone number for Lewis.
On Aug. 1, Seattle detectives advised they were following a black Cadillac driven by a woman with Lewis as the passenger. The car parked in a Kent driveway in the 4600 block of S. 214th Way with two occupants inside.
Officers approached the vehicle as Lewis exited the right front passenger seat. Lewis ran through the residence and exited the back door into the backyard, according to charging papers. He jumped over a backyard fence when he was apprehended and taken into custody by Seattle Police SWAT.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the Kent home and found ammunition and cellphones, according to court documents. Detectives also searched the Cadillac and found two handguns and a loaded magazine in the vehicle’s glove box.
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