Man faces murder charge in Kent West Hill apartment shooting

A 46-year-old Seattle man faces a first-degree murder charge and two counts of first-degree attempted murder for allegedly fatally shooting one man and injuring two others June 29 at a Kent West Hill apartment.

King County prosecutors filed charges July 6 against Chucco Lavarr Robinson for reportedly killing Jack Rainford, 29, at the BLVD Apartments, 2110 S. 272nd St. Rainford died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Des Moines Police assisted Kent Police with the arrest of Robinson at about 1:21 a.m. July 3. Officers located him inside a 1997 Toyota sedan at 21454 Pacific Highway S., in Des Moines. The car was registered to Robinson. Robinson declined to speak to detectives, according to charging papers.

Robinson is being held without bail at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. July 2o in the GA Courtroom at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Robinson also reportedly shot and injured a 30-year-old Kent woman as she had a gunshot wound to the head, according to charging documents. He also was charged with shooting another man who fled the apartment prior to the arrival of the Kent Police.

In addition to the murder and attempted murder charges, prosecutors charged Robinson with unlawful possession of a firearm due to convictions for second-degree murder in 1993 in King County Superior Court and first-degree burglary and second-degree assault in 2007 in Spokane County Superior Court.

“In this case, the defendant shot three people in the head with a revolver he was barred from having in his possession due to his serious violent criminal history,” wrote Senior Prosecuting Attorney Aubony Burns in charging documents. “One of those victims has died from the wounds inflicted by the defendant, one will require surgeries to repair wounds from the gunshot to the head and the third may not survive the wounds the defendant caused when he shot her in the head. She remains unable to breath or eat on her own and is currently unresponsive.”

Paramedics transported Rainford and the woman to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Rainford died June 30, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The incident began when Rainford drove to the apartment complex at about 5:30 a.m. June 29, according to charging documents. The male friend told police he waited in the vehicle and Rainford told him he had to go the apartment because someone “owned him something.”

The friend said about 10 minutes later he heard a gunshot followed by a female screaming, then four or five more gunshots, according to charging papers. Less than a minute after the shots, he saw a man exit the apartment stairwell and get into an older green sedan and leave the parking lot at a high rate of speed.

The friend of Rainford entered the apartment building yelling for Rainford but didn’t hear a response. On the third floor, he saw an apartment with the door open and saw Rainford lying in the doorway. He then called 911.

A dispatcher told the man to apply pressure to Rainford’s head. The friend went to look for a towel inside the apartment and saw a woman with a gunshot wound in the bedroom.

When officers were in the apartment, they found a driver’s license on a bed that belonged to Robinson. The friend of Rainford said the photo looked like the same man he saw running and driving away, according to charging documents.

Police used automatic license plate reader cameras to help identify the Toyota sedan registered to Robinson, a vehicle later spotted by Des Moines Police.

A Kent detective located a social media account for the woman who had been shot and observed the name of a man she was dating. The detective was able to contact the father of that man who said his son was injured but scared to get medical treatment.

Detectives were able interview the boyfriend of the woman, the man shot in the apartment but who fled prior to police arriving.

That man told detectives he had been friends with Robinson for about 30 years and that Robinson had been living with him and his girlfriend for about a week in the BLVD Apartments.

The man said Robinson seemed paranoid prior to the shooting and even thought his friend had been hired to kill him, according to court papers.

On the morning of the shooting, Rainford reportedly contacted the friend of Robinson and that he was coming to the apartment to get high. Rainford arrived and the friend told detectives just moments before the shooting they were in the kitchen putting out lines of meth on the counter to ingest, according to court documents.

The friend of Robinson said he walked to speak to his girlfriend in their bedroom and when he walked back out a minute later he felt something hit his head and he fell to the ground. He had just seen Robinson reportedly spinning the cylinder of a revolver.

The friend of Robinson said he fled the apartment and heard gunshots as he ran down the hallway to get away.