The King County Prosecutor’s Office has filed first-degree murder charges against a 22-year-old Kent man and a 16-year-old Seattle teen in connection with the shooting death of a 30-year-old Kent man Oct. 15 on the East Hill.
The shooting occurred after a dispute over a drug deal, according to charging papers.
Kent Police arrested Mark Anthony McKinney, 22, of Kent, for investigation of first-degree murder at about 8 p.m. Tuesday. McKinney, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself to Kent Police. Detectives had spent five days trying to locate him.
McKinney is being held without bail at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, and is scheduled to be arraigned 9 a.m. Oct. 29 in Courtroom GB at the Regional Justice Center.
On Wednesday, King County Prosecutor Daniel Satterberg filed first-degree murder charges against a 16-year-old teen suspected of involvement with the shooting. The Kent Reporter is not publishing his name because he is a minor. The teen, who is from Seattle, also is in custody.
Danny Vu, 30, died of one gunshot wound to the back, according to charging papers. Police responded to a report of a shooting at about 9:43 p.m. Oct. 15 and found Vun lying in the 10900 block of Southeast 256th Street with a gunshot wound. Paramedics transported Vu to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he later died.
On Oct. 25, a witness saw two men running and chasing two other men on foot through the parking lot of an apartment complex along Southeast 256th Street. The witness told police that one of the men being chased carried a black bag in one hand and a silver handgun in the other hand.
The two men being chased then stopped to confront their pursuers in the middle of Southeast 256th Street. The man with the gun said, “Back up or I’m gonna shoot you,” according to witness statements.
Vu, who was with a friend, reportedly met with McKinney and the teen inside Vu’s friend’s vehicle, to sell them 3 pounds of marijuana for $7,500. The men reportedly tried to get Vu to lower the price, but he refused. McKinney and the teen then reportedly grabbed the marijuana and ran without paying.
Vu and his friend chased the two men out to Southeast 256th Street where the shot was fired. During the chase, one of the pursuers – Vu’s friend – slipped and fell, and the teen reportedly pulled a knife on him and punched him in the head.
According to reports, McKinney called a friend on Oct. 16 to tell him that when he met Vu to buy the marijuana that Vu tried to rob him. McKinney told the friend that Vu had jumped the man with him and when he pulled out his gun, Vu grabbed it. The gun then went off and McKinney said he ran away.
According to charging papers, McKinney has convictions for two felony violations of the uniform controlled substances act, four assaults, violation of a protection order, multiple criminal trespasses, obstruction and harassment.
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