A 48-year-old Kent man faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree assault after he allegedly shot a 49-year-old man July 21 at a Seattle motel in the 8200 block of Aurora Avenue North.
Larone Deshawn Charles, whose last known address was an apartment on Kent’s East Hill, is scheduled to be arraigned for the murder of Anthony E. Parker on Aug. 10 at the King County Courthouse in Seattle. Charles remains in custody at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle with bail set at $5 million.
Kent Police arrested Charles at about 10:58 p.m. July 25 in the 25000 block of Pacific Highway South. Officers transported Charles to Seattle Police Headquarters.
Charles is a 14-time convicted felon for multiple crimes, including kidnapping, assault and burglary, according to charging documents. He was convicted in a 1992 case in Seattle for first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping. He was sentenced to 17 years. The state Department of Corrections released Charles in 2007, an early release after 15 years affected by jail time credit and earned release time.
“The defendant has a lengthy criminal history that includes an incredibly violent assault and kidnap conviction from 1992,” wrote Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Karissa Taylor in charging documents. “The defendant kidnapped a 16-year-old female who was walking home from high school (in Seattle). Along with two friends, the defendant threw the victim in the trunk of a car after trying to sexually assault her and threatening to kill her.”
The men took the girl out of the trunk at a Federal Way location. Charles slit her throat and they threw her body in a dumpster and drove away, leaving her for dead, according to charging documents. The girl managed to pull herself out of the dumpster, was taken to a hospital and survived.
In the July 21 shooting, Seattle Police responded to reports of a person shot at about 4:15 a.m. at the Everspring Motel. Officers found Parker with a gunshot wound and he died at the scene.
Surveillance video showed Charles in the motel lobby and later in the parking lot with five other people. Parker entered the parking lot and went into the lobby. Charles followed him. It appears they were having words, according to the police report. Charles pulled out a gun and had it at his right side. Parker also pulled out a weapon and had it at his right side.
Charles then raised his gun and began to fire. It appears that Charles shot first. Parker had two spent cartridge casings in the cylinder of his weapon suggesting he may have shot back. Parker died from a gunshot wound to his chest, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Two days after the shooting, Seattle detectives received an anonymous tip about Charles and discovered that the photo of Charles matched the shooter in the motel video. A second tip corroborated that Charles was the man in the surveillance footage from a person who had previously known Charles.
After Kent Police took Charles into custody, Seattle detectives noticed he wore the same silver chains he was seen wearing on the surveillance video.
Prosecutors also filed a second-degree assault charge against Charles for an incident that occurred on June 12 and that detectives found out about during their investigation into the shooting. Charles also was charged with first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm because of his previous felony conviction of assault and kidnapping.
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