A 19-year-old Seattle man faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault for allegedly shooting three men Aug. 28 inside a Kent apartment.
Dijion Ray Taylor-Johnson reportedly killed Reese Gainer, 23, who was in the process of moving to Washington from Atlanta, Georgia. He allegedly critically injured a 23-year-old Kent man and another 23-year-old man who also was moving to the state from Georgia, during a shooting at about 8:45 p.m. at the Irwin Park Apartments, 25822 110th Ave. SE.
Taylor-Johnson is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 27 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Taylor-Johnson remains in the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle with bail set at $4 million.
Taylor-Johnson and a second shooter, who has not been identified, reportedly fired at least 22 shots inside the apartment, according to charging papers. One shooter positioned himself outside the dining room window, where one of the victims was sitting inside facing away from the window and watching TV as his mother fixed dinner for them in the kitchen.
The other shooter positioned himself outside the sliding glass door, less than 10 feet from where two men, including Gainer, were sleeping on the couch, according to court documents.
Earlier on Aug. 28, Taylor-Johnson reportedly shot and injured in Seattle one of the same men he later injured again at the apartment shooting, according to charging papers. Taylor-Johnson had been asked to move out of the Kent apartment. He also was confronted by the man about an affair Taylor-Johnson was having with one of his friends.
Taylor-Johnson allegedly shot the man in the leg. Within hours, and while the man was still at the hospital, Taylor-Johnson reportedly messaged the man on Instagram, taunting him and claiming that he could have killed him if he wanted to, according to court documents.
Just hours after the man was released from the hospital and returned to his Kent apartment, Taylor-Johnson and another shooter reportedly carried out the threats and fired the multiple shots at the Kent apartment.
A friend of Taylor-Johnson, however, told detectives that a few days after the homicide Taylor-Johnson said he, “went in there and shot them,” so that they could not shoot him in retaliation of the earlier shooting in Seattle.
“There is no other way to describe the defendant’s conduct other than brazen, aggressive and critically dangerous,” wrote Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brandy Gevers in court documents.
When Kent Police officers arrived at the apartment, they found one man conscious outside the rear sliding glass door, according to police documents. He had been shot at least twice in the upper portion of his back. Another man had multiple gunshot wounds and was laying on the living room floor. Gainer was unconscious and laying near the other man on the living room floor. He had multiple gunshot wounds, including at least one to the head.
The pattern of casings on the ground indicated to detectives that there were likely two shooters.
Paramedics transported the three men to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Gainer later died from his injuries. He suffered four gunshot wounds, two went through his head and caused his death, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. One shot went through his hand and another grazed his clavicle.
Detectives discovered that Gainer and another man were temporarily staying at the Kent apartment after they had just arrived Aug. 26 from Atlanta. They were looking for a place to live.
Taylor-Johnson reportedly got in an argument at a Seattle apartment with two of the men that led to the initial shooting, according to court documents.
Detectives had the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab run tests on the casings found in Seattle and Kent and that showed the casings appeared to be from the same gun, according to charging papers.
Detectives were provided with a phone number for Taylor-Johnson and obtained a court order for real-time location pings. On Sept. 6, that led detectives to an Auburn apartment where they observed Taylor-Johnson exiting an apartment and engaging in an unrelated shooting, according to court documents.
Auburn Police arrested Taylor-Johnson for investigation of the shooting.
The cellphone information led detectives to place the phone in the area of the Aug. 28 Kent and Seattle shootings.
Taylor-Johnson agreed to talk to detectives. He said he fired shots at the Seattle apartment after the two men approached him. He denied firing shots inside the Kent apartment. He said he was at the apartment but that a friend fired the shots.
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