A 22-year-old Renton man reportedly admitted to Des Moines Police that he fatally shot a Tacoma man Oct. 28 at the Redondo Square shopping complex near Kent at the northwest corner of South 272nd Street and Pacific Highway South.
Yourhighness Jeramiah Bolar initially denied to police his involvement in the killing but then admitted to shooting the victim twice with a 9mm Glock, according to charging papers filed Nov. 9 by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Bolar remained in custody Tuesday at the county jail in Seattle with bail set at $1 million.
Prosecutors requested the high bail because they said Bolar is likely to commit a violent offense.
“It is alleged that the defendant shot and killed an unarmed man who approached the defendant’s car in a public parking lot,” Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mary Barbosa wrote in charging documents.
Bolar is scheduled to be arraigned on a second-degree murder charge and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm Nov. 21 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
Bolar told police he was sitting in his car in the parking lot near Planet Fitness waiting for a lady friend to text or call him when a man he didn’t know walked in front of his car and then to the driver’s side window, according to court documents. He said the man told him to wind down his window or get out of the car.
Bolar told police he was scared and had a feeling that the man was sent there to kill him or get his car, so Bolar grabbed his gun out of the glove compartment, shot the man twice and then drove away.
Andrew S. Carter, 31, died at the scene from two gunshot wounds, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. Police found Carter fatally shot in the parking lot of the strip mall at about 9:14 p.m. Oct. 28, according to a Des Moines Police media release. The shopping complex includes a Safeway, Bartell Drugs, Planet Fitness and other businesses.
Carter reportedly drove his father’s car to the strip mall. Police found the gray Ford Escape at the scene with the headlights on and running. A witness saw Carter pacing around the vehicle. Exterior security cameras from a business showed Carter arrived shortly after Bolar. Carter walked toward Bolar’s vehicle twice and appeared to talk to Bolar the second time. Then Bolar pulled out of his parking spot and Carter approached it again just prior to being shot.
Des Moines Police arrested Bolar Nov. 6 in Renton when he showed up at a state Department of Corrections office. He was under supervision for second-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm. He had just been released seven months ago from prison. Bolar has felony convictions for two counts of second-degree burglary, attempted unlawful possession of a firearm, attempting to elude and first-degree trafficking in stolen property. He is prohibited from possessing a firearm because of the convictions.
Detectives reviewed video surveillance from businesses in the strip mall that reportedly captured the shooting and the vehicle involved. The vehicle fled the scene right after the shooting. Police described the vehicle as a tan or gold 1998-2001 Toyota Camry LE.
Police received an anonymous tip after releasing photos of the vehicle to the media. The caller recognized the car. Detectives also identified Bolar by a video from a business within the complex, according to court documents.
Bolar told police that he “got rid” of the vehicle that was registered to him as well as the gun. He said he arranged to have the gun thrown in the ocean and to have the car sold in Oregon. He said he got the gun a couple of weeks earlier on the streets.
Police interviewed Bolar after they arrested him in Renton. A detective told him he had the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney, but Bolar decided to talk. He also told the detective he was hungry, so the detective bought him some food before they talked at the Des Moines Police Department.
For more than the first hour of the interview, Bolar denied any knowledge of the Des Moines shooting, according to court documents. His story began to change after police showed him video clips of his car in the strip mall parking lot and a shot of him from a Safeway store video.
Bolar was on the Q13/Most Wanted List in 2014 for his involvement as one of four suspects who broke into a Newcastle jewelry store.
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