King County prosecutors recently charged two of three suspects in the drive-by murder of a Kent man that occurred April 11 at a Federal Way intersection in broad daylight.
Miguel Antonio Bejar, Jr., 21, of Kent, was charged on Friday, and Anontio Inda, 15, of Burien, was charged Monday morning in the apparent gang-related shooting. Both face second-degree murder charges. Bejar is being held on $1 million bail in the county jail in Kent. Inda awaits a decline hearing to determine if he should be tried as an adult.
According to charging documents, prosecutors believe Bejar and Inda – along with getaway driver Alondra Garcia-Garcia – are responsible for the death of Arturo Marcial-Alvarez, 19, of Kent. Marcial-Alvarez was shot multiple times and killed at 4:30 p.m. on April 11 as he exited a Metro bus at South Dash Point Road and Pacific Highway South.
The lead Federal Way detective on the case wrote in charging documents that a green Honda Odyssey minivan, thought to be driven by Garcia-Garcia, followed the bus the victim was riding for 8 miles from SeaTac.
According to charging documents, Marcial-Alvarez got off at a bus stop near a used-car dealership and proceeded to walk toward the minivan. They state, Bejar, who was sitting in the van’s front passenger seat, fired a gun at the victim.
“Almost simultaneously, Antonio Inda, who was also inside the minivan, put his pistol out of the same front passenger window and also fired at [victim] Alvarez,” the documents continue. “[He] tried to escape the gunfire by turning around and running south, but he was hit with three bullets to the back.”
Police found one spent .22 shell casing in the area, however, five bullets struck the victim, and five bullets hit the cars behind him.
The suspects quickly fled the scene as the victim “picked himself up from the ground and walked around the corner where he collapsed and died.”
As medics tried to revive Marcial-Alvarez, police found a gun in his pocket.
The detective discovered later that the King County Sheriff’s Office had been in contact with Marcial-Alvarez as early as Feb. 10. He had, at that time, said he was in a “disagreement with some people and that he believed they had been looking for him, presumably, to harm him.”
Garcia-Garcia was arrested April 12 when Seattle police responded to a shooting in which Garcia-Garcia was involved. As police were investigating, they saw “Mama Pepa” written on her green minivan’s back window, which was also seen at the time of Marcial-Alvarez’s shooting.
Garcia-Garcia was arrested and charged with rendering criminal assistance. She denies any involvement.
Having just been released from jail on April 7 after serving a felony sentence, Bejar was arrested again on April 14 on an unrelated misdemeanor warrant, according to charging documents. Although he also denied being involved in Marcial-Alvarez’s murder, he told officers he was a member of the South Side Locos street gang and that there was an ongoing dispute between that gang and the United Lokotes, of which the detective claims Marcial-lvarez was a member.
“During his interview, Bejar told police: ‘Before the end of 2017, there’s going to be a lot of dead gangsters…’ ” charging documents state.
Sheriff’s office deputies arrested Inda at Highline High School on April 19 in Burien. He denied being involved in street gangs and knowing Marcial-Alvarez or having a connection to his murder. Police noted, however, he admitted he’d recently had an “altercation” with members of the United Lokotes street gang.
Bejar and Garcia-Garcia are scheduled to be arraigned May 1 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Inda is being held in juvenile court and will be scheduled a decline hearing, where a judge will decide whether he should be prosecuted in juvenile or adult court.
• Contributed by reporter Raechel Dawson, Federal Way Mirror
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