A second Kent man has been charged with murder in the July 4, 2022, drive-by shooting death of Matthew Saelor, 19, in Federal Way after new DNA evidence was uncovered.
On Aug. 29, Morris Phillips, 21, was arrested by Federal Way Police at his Kent apartment and was formally charged with first-degree murder Aug. 30 in King County Superior Court. Bail was set at $1.5 million. Phillips remains in custody at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle. His next court date is an arraignment on Sept. 12.
Phillips’ co-defendant, Sir Antonio-Patrick Agee II, 19 at the time of the crime, was charged with first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement in July 2022 and pleaded not guilty. Agee’s case is ongoing, and he remains in custody, according to King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney. Bail is $2 million, according to jail records.
Despite Agee originally being the only one charged because witnesses positively identified him as the shooter alongside DNA evidence, new evidence found that Phillips also played a role in the murder, according to charging documents. The charges filed against Phillips arose when new evidence uncovered that a second firearm found in the vehicle that was fired at the scene reportedly had Phillips’ DNA on it.
According to charging documents, inside the vehicle that was used during the drive-by shooting, there was a Glock 19 handgun and a Polymer 80 handgun. At the scene, there were two shell casings and one bullet slug recovered that had been fired by the Polymer 80 9mm and two shell casings had been fired by the Glock 19 9mm.
When Phillips’ DNA was analyzed by the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory, it was determined that Phillips was excluded as a contributor to the DNA profile on the Glock 19, but his DNA was found on the Polymer 80 grip/trigger/guard, according to charging documents.
Details of the murder
Around 10 p.m. July 4, 2022, near the 33400 block of 35th Avenue SW in Federal Way, Saelor was celebrating the holiday with family members in the residential area when he was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting and died three days later. Witnesses told police they saw a white sedan speeding down the street and yelled at the driver to slow down because there were kids nearby.
A witness told police a person in the backseat — later identified as Agee — swore at the people and allegedly fired several gunshots out of the window before fleeing the scene. One of the gunshots struck Saelor in the head, and another was fired through the bedroom window of the family’s home.
Officers located and pulled over the sedan a short time later, and reportedly found a handgun in the backseat, according to charging documents. The female driver of the car allegedly told police she heard a person on the sidewalk say something to them, and one of the male passengers yelled back before she heard what she believed to be fireworks.
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