A King County Superior Court judge sentenced a Renton man on Aug. 9 in Seattle in two 2021 shootings, including firing an AK-47 at a King County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
The judge sentenced 18-year-old Jai King to six years in confinement for charges of assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree for two shootings in November 2021.
King pleaded guilty on June 27 to a felony count of assault in the first degree for involvement alongside two additional suspects in shooting at a “rival group” on Nov. 26, 2021, at a Federal Way apartment complex; and to a felony count of assault in the second degree for firing an AK-47 on Nov. 28, 2021, at a King County Sheriff’s Office deputy in Skyway near Renton.
The court sentenced King to 36 months in confinement for the count of assault in the first degree, and 20 months for the count on the assault in the second degree, with both sentences to run concurrently. The court added an additional 36-month firearm enhancement to the assault in the second degree count, resulting in a total sentence of six years.
Family and friends of King were present at his sentencing hearing on Aug. 9, 2024.
According to court documents, King and three additional occupants stepped out of a vehicle on Nov. 26, 2021, and fired more than 40 rounds at a group of people standing outside an apartment complex in Federal Way with semi-automatic handguns and an AK-47. On Nov. 28, a King County Sheriff’s Office deputy positively identified King as having fired a single shot from an AK-47 at him as he sat parked on the side of the road in a patrol vehicle in Skyway.
According to prosecutorial documents, law enforcement had previously arrested King in Renton in October 2021 after King and his friends were heard firing a gun near a playground.
Prosecutors charged King on Dec. 1, 2021, with assault in the first degree and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree for the Nov. 28, 2021, shooting.
On July 6, 2022, prosecutors charged King with assault in the first degree and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree for the Nov. 26, 2021, shooting.
Prosecutors charged King, age 16 at the time of the two shootings, as an adult as a result of the severity of the charges.
King’s acceptance of the plea agreement resulted in the dismissal and reduction of charges to an assault in the first degree count for the first shooting, and an assault in the second degree count for the second shooting.
The court additionally sentenced King to four years and six months of community custody following confinement.
King continues to face additional charges in juvenile court, including assault in the third degree for assaulting a corrections officer in March 2022, and three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree and one count of unlawful possession of a machine gun in July 2023.
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