A 25-year-old Kent man faces a second-degree murder charge for allegedly shooting a Des Moines man during a verbal dispute over custody of a 10-month-old baby.
Jonathan Scott admitted to Des Moines Police that he accompanied a female friend on Nov. 30 to the Newport Apartments in the 23600 block of 20th Avenue South, to help her get her baby and that he brought a gun with him, according to charging papers.
A short while later, Scott reportedly shot Leonard Eliysares, 52, once in the chest after a verbal dispute between the two at about 7:52 p.m. in the Newport parking lot, according to court documents. Scott claimed to police that Eliysares reached into his waistband and so he fired in self-defense. No weapons were found on Eliyares by police or medical personnel.
Eliysares was the roommate of the father of the woman’s baby. Paramedics transported Eliysares to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he later died.
Scott is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 18 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. He remains in the county jail in Seattle with bail set at $1 million. Scott also faces an unlawful possession of a firearm charge because of a conviction for second-degree robbery in 2011 in King County.
The mother of the baby initially denied to police that she knew Scott, who fled on foot after the shooting. But she later told detectives that the father of the child was ignoring her and preventing her from seeing her. She said Scott was a friend of her former boyfriend, who lives in Kent.
Police discovered the gun belonged to the ex-boyfriend. Detectives arrested Scott on Nov. 30 at an apartment complex on Kent’s East Hill.
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