A 17-year-old Kent girl faces charges of first-degree robbery and third-degree assault for her alleged involvement in a April 20 downtown Seattle robbery that ended with her 19-year-old brother getting fatally shot by police.
King County prosecutors decided on Tuesday to charge Adrianna Butts as an adult. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, May 8 at the King County Courthouse in Seattle, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Her bail is set at $250,000.
Damarius Butts, of Kent, died from multiple gunshot wounds after a reported shootout with Seattle Police when he fled from a 7-Eleven store, 627 First Ave., in downtown Seattle.
The brother and sister along with a friend from Renton decided to rob the store at about 1 p.m. on a Thursday, according to charging papers. A store clerk told police he saw a man grab a 12-pack of Heineken beer, donuts and chips and leave without paying. The man had walked into the store with a female.
When the pair left the store without paying, the clerk pursued them. The clerk knocked the beer out of the man’s hands but the two continued to flee. The clerk grabbed the female, but Damarius Butts then displayed a silver pistol inside the area of his waist. The clerk let the girl go, returned to the store and called 911.
Police responded to the scene. One officer grabbed Damarius Butts. Adrianna Butts told police she threw a Coke bottle at the officer’s head and then put a choke hold on him. She said she also had a pocket knife on her and she would have sliced his neck when he was on the ground, but that she is not that type. Police later discovered a knife in her purse after she was arrested.
While his sister grabbed the officer, Damarius Butts ran away. Officers pursued him and Butts was killed a short time later during an exchange of gunfire that left three officers wounded, one of them critically, according to charging documents.
Adrianna Butts told police the gun belonged to her but she didn’t have the heart for it to take it inside the store, so she gave the gun to her brother because she knew he would show the gun.
Prosecutors have not yet charged a third person who assisted the pair in the robbery by waiting outside. He was released Tuesday from custody pending the ongoing investigation, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
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