Be on the lookout for Tom‘s stolen car, a dark-blue 1997 Subaru Outback, license AXH 2450, taken from the 3900 block of 42nd SW (corner of SW Bradford) on Wednesday night. If you see it, call 911.

(WSB photo)

That’s a photo of Tilorae Shepherd, the 22-year-old Federal Way man shot and killed at Alki on Monday night. Just before family and friends gathered at the beach this evening for a memorial, charges were filed in the shooting that took his life and injured three other people.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has filed a second-degree murder charge and two first-degree-assault charges against 19-year-old Milton Arnold III of Des Moines, who’s been in custody since shortly after the shooting. The charging documents tell the story of what witnesses told police happened that night.

First – the charging documents reveal that while Arnold has no history of criminal convictions, in addition to the domestic-violence arrest last November that we mentioned in our previous coverage, he was also facing possible charges in an incident less than two months ago. Federal Way police say Arnold and accomplices robbed two people at a park there, at gunpoint, then hit one of the victims in the face with his gun, and walked both into nearby woods – still at gunpoint – as they pleaded for their lives. Charges had not yet been filed in that case. One of Arnold’s alleged accomplices that day, prosecutors say, is an 18-year-old friend who was injured in the Alki shooting – the one who was allegedly driven to Harborview, with Arnold in the same car.

Harborview, you may recall, is where police found Arnold. But first, here’s what else is the charging documents:

First, the original assessment of the victims that night as being in their 30s was incorrect. Along with the 22-year-old who was killed, and the suspect’s 18-year-old friend who was wounded, the two other people who survived with gunshot wounds to their legs are described as a woman and man who are both also 22 years old.

One witness told police that those two had “confronted his group about using fireworks” – one 911 caller said the woman had been hit with one – and alleged that Mr. Shepherd came over to defend the man, and “displayed a gun.” Another witness said that the gun was in Mr. Shepherd’s waistband, and that while he lifted his shirt to show it, he did not pull it out nor use it in any other way. As noted earlier, there had been a 911 call about a dispute involving a gun even before shots were fired; then the calltaker heard gunfire while that caller was on the line.

The documents say officers found nine fired 9mm casings at the scene along with two .25 caliber casings

Witness and vehicle descriptions were circulated among police, and when officers got to Harborview Medical Center about 15 minutes after the shooting, they saw a gray BMW arrive with two women and two men. The latter were Arnold and his previously mentioned friend, who had a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Police saw two guns in the rear passenger seat where Arnold had been sitting. Arnold matched a description given by witnesses, so officers took him into custody and impounded the car. (The two women in the car were questioned and said they had gone to Alki with Arnold but weren’t with him when the shooting happened, nor did they know his friend who was wounded.)

The other man who was shot was interviewed by police at the hospital, He said he and the woman who was shot – his partner – were riding scooters at Alki when they ran into Mr. Shepherd, an acquaintance of his. A short time later, he said, a firework hit his partner in the head, They started confronting people nearby, trying to find out who was responsible. At one point when they were asking two men if they had seen who did it, Mr. Shepherd came up behind him. The other men reportedly said, “Don’t come over here with that s—t, don’t come over here with that,” and then, the shooting survivor said, one man pulled a pistol out of his pants and shot Mr. Shepherd from just a few feet away. The survivor started running, and that’s when he and his girlfriend were shot.

Police talked to her too; she said she and her boyfriend got into “a little confrontation” with people over the fireworks but worked it out and were walking away when the two men, believed to be Arnold and his friend, said something like, “why are you beefing with my people” – and then the argument heated up again, followed shortly thereafter by gunfire. She said the two men were with two women who matched the description of the ones who arrived at Harborview with Arnold and his friend.

In trying to sort out who was armed and who fired shots, police included additional information in the charging documents: No gun was found on or near Mr. Shepherd, but a Glock .357 SIG magazine was found on him. A relative later contacted police and said Mr. Shepherd may have had his Glock 32 Gen 4 pistol with him when he was killed and provided the serial number. No casings of that type were found at the scene, just the 9mm and 25-caliber ones mentioned earlier. Detectives believe all the 9mm casings were from the same gun.

Earlier today police got a search warrant for the impounded BMW. Inside it they found a Glock 32 – but with a different serial number than the one given by Mr. Shepherd’s relative – along with a Beretta that fires “the equivalent of” a .25-caliber round, and a 9mm “ghost gun,” made from different parts. Neither the Glock nor the Beretta had ammunition but the 9mm gun had a 21-round magazine with ‘additional live 9mm rounds.” They also found a blue hat similar to what witnesses had described, and a bloody white T-shirt.

A judge set Arnold’s bail today at $2 million. He remains in the King County Jail and will be arraigned later this month.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes today:

ANOTHER OFFERUP USER ROBBED: The newest post on SPD Blotter spotlights three recent armed robberies of people who say it happened after they responded to OfferUp ads – two of them in West Seattle. We’ve already reported on the first one, two weeks ago in Riverview. SPD says the other West Seattle case happened this past Tuesday (June 29th), in which “a man reported he had met a man purportedly selling a car on OfferUp in the 6500 block of 30th Avenue SW, only to have the seller pull a gun on him, demand cash, and threaten to shoot him.” If you have any information about these cases, you can call SPD’s Robbery Unit at 206-684-5535.

SUSPECTED CATALYTIC-CONVERTER THEFT ATTEMPT: Emailed by a reader:

We scared off a trespasser the police believe was attempting to steal our catalytic converter at approximately 6:30 this morning, 5400 block of 49th Ave SW. A white male, 30’s, dark T-shirt and jeans, was brazenly checking our vehicle in our driveway, near our open front window. When the trespasser saw/heard us, he ran to the passenger side of a small, ‘90-’00 black sedan, headed north on 49th. SPD was quick to respond but our cameras did not get a vehicle plate number so these folks are likely still prowling.

You might have seen regional-news reports about more than a dozen arrests today in what federal agents describe as “an investigation involving armed drug trafficking.” We’ve learned that one of the warrants was served in West Seattle. A reader told us a major law-enforcement response including federal agents and local officers had been at her apartment building near Westwood Village early today. We didn’t get an address but did confirm with authorities that one of the search warrants involved today was for an address on SW Barton. We don’t know yet if an arrest resulted at that location; the court documents made public so far don’t match addresses to names. In all, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says 12 people were arrested today in King and Pierce counties, indicted for alleged drug-distribution conspiracy. Its announcement adds, “Today alone officers seized 48 guns, 2 kilograms of cocaine, 2 pounds of methamphetamine, several thousand fentanyl pills and two illegal marijuana grows. An additional $120,000 cash was also seized.” Agencies participating in the raids included FBI, DEA, Seattle Police, HSI, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, King County Sheriff’s Office, Valley SWAT, Kent Police Department, ATF, and Narcotics/Currency/Firearms K9 support from seven agencies.

(Added: Photo by David Hutchinson)

12:03 AM: Police and fire are responding to 60th/Alki for a report of gunfire with at least one person possibly injured. Updates to come.

12:07 AM: Police are now saying there are three victims at 60th/Alki, one more headed to the hospital via personal vehicle. One of the victims at the beach is reported to be getting CPR. Police are closing off Alki Avenue at 61st.

12:15 AM: Police have told dispatch that one victim is dead.

12:26 AM: Police are detaining one person at Harborview.

12:38 AM: They’re also investigating a vehicle at the hospital that may have been associated. No confirmed information yet on the other victims’ conditions.

1:33 AM: Just got victim updates from SFD spokesperson Kristin Tinsley. She is aware of three victims, all believed to be in their 30s: One man who died at the scene, one woman and man taken to the hospital, in stable condition.

2:46 AM: This is the first homicide of the year in West Seattle, first deadly shooting on Alki in four years.

3:37 AM: Police now confirm the fourth victim. They say witnesses report the shootings were preceded by an argument between two groups. SPD also tweeted a video briefing at the scene from Chief Adrian Diaz (click to watch):

The tip line mentioned by the chief is 206-233-5000.

4:27 AM: After 4 1/2 hours, police are about to clear the scene and reopen the street.

11:41 AM: No new information on the investigation yet – we will likely have a separate followup report later. Two notes from early police summaries: First – the shooting happened when police were already on their way to the area after a report of a “disturbance involving a handgun.” Before they arrived, dispatch updated it with reports that people had been shot.

During the investigation, there was one related arrest – the police report about it says officers were dealing with a “chaotic” scene and “hostile crowd” including one person who “refused to step outside of the crime scene, which was clearly marked by crime-scene tape. Officers made numerous attempts to reason with this person who refused to leave the active crime scene. Officers attempted to escort the suspect (after numerous futile attempts at reasoning) outside the crime-scene tape whereupon one officer was struck in the face by the suspect. Officers then placed the suspect under arrest for assault and obstruction, and the suspect spat on an on-scene supervisor.”

That’s Margarita‘s food trailer, when she’s using it, which she can’t do until she gets it back. She sent the photo and report:

I’ve owned and operated Mamacita’s Bad Ass Mexican Food for a couple of years. I own a small food trailer. In that time the trailer has been attacked and almost stolen 3 times. Well, today someone finally succeeded. It was stolen from 46th & Lander St. in West Seattle. 2020 complexly shut us down. We are just getting started for the year, and I have 3 events booked that i now cannot do. This is my livelihood for me and my daughters and granddaughter. I have been through hell and back in the last 6 years and this business was supposed to be my saving grace.

The trailer was last seen at 1:30 AM by a neighbor, and I believe I heard commotion around 5 AM which could have been the trailer being stolen. Police report number is #21-159383

(WSB photo)

Police investigated a report of gunfire on Alki around 6:15 tonight. The preliminary report says witnesses reporting the shooter walking past Pepperdock Restaurant in the 2600 block of Alki Avenue SW, then facing southbound on Marine Avenue [map] and firing a round south, toward Alki Playfield/Whale Tail Park, before running away westbound. No one was hurt and no property damage was found; when we talked with police at the scene, they hadn’t found any evidence, but later they turned up “an unspent .40-caliber bullet” back in the 2600 block of Alki. Officers called in the Gun Violence Reduction Unit. The report does not include a description of the shooter other than “male” but mentions that he “was possibly with two other males during the incident.”

Another theft-linked car to look for – as well as the motorcycle taken in the theft. From Melody at Nucor:

At approximately 12:20 pm, a red Honda Civic drove into the employee parking lot of Nucor Steel Seattle. They parked by the motorcycle, where the driver got out and stole a teammate’s motorcycle. The motorcycle and the car both quickly left the parking lot and were gone by 12:26 pm. Here are photos of the car, suspect and stolen motorcycle.

Please call 911 to report any sightings of either vehicle – SPD incident # 21-157556

Just yesterday, we reported on a daylight catalytic converter theft in a West Seattle Junction parking lot – with a passerby’s photo of a black Mercedes that the thieves had pulled up alongside the targeted Element. Today, a WSB reader spotted that Mercedes at 39th/Juneau and called it in (the dispatcher told officers the caller had read about it here). Officers responded and called for a tow truck to impound the car so the Major Crimes Unit can investigate it. They told us they hadn’t yet verified whether the car was stolen, but they called it “suspicious,” noting that potential theft tools including a jack were in plain view inside.

That photo came in from a reader on Wednesday, with this report about what he saw after 7 am that morning:

I was strolling north in the alley between 44th & California, in the block south of Oregon. I heard the unmistakable sound of a reciprocating saw against steel for just a brief moment. I looked in the direction of the sound & spotted a black Mercedes parked very close to a Honda Element. They must have seen me and stopped. In the time it took to pull out my phone and take a photo, the Honda came down off a jack, and something, probably just the jack, was loaded into the back seat area.

Unfortunately, that apparently was the catalytic converter from Gayle‘s car. She later emailed us:

6/23, at approximately 7-7:15, the catalytic converter was stolen from my 2007 Honda Element. My car was parked in a Diamond parking lot close to the sidewalk on 44th Avenue near Oregon Street. I saw a black Mercedes pull in next to mine and later learned they were the thieves. A police report (21-156316) has been filed. … The thieves were driving a black Mercedes 5500 (sedan). The driver was a white male and the passenger is believed to be a white female. If anyone else was walking by or coming through the parking lot and has any information, please contact the police and/or reply on the blog. This is happening far too often and in the light of day next to a busy road.

Here is another photo with a closer look at the front of the car.

It did have a rear plate, which began with ASL.

Amanda hopes you will be on the lookout for her stolen car:

My 1993 Honda Accord LX was stolen from North Admiral.

1993 Honda Accord LX 4 door
Purplish-brown color with red pinstriping
License plate: ABE8926

Call 911 if you see it.

Thanks for the tips. Here’s why police were at 42nd/Morgan in Morgan Junction this past hour: They were dispatched to a report of a strong-arm robbery at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) – a shoplift turned violent, with the would-be thief/robber reportedly physically fighting with a store employee. Shortly after arriving, police arrested a woman at a bus stop just east of the store; SFD medics were called but weren’t commenting at the scene.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports:

STOLEN CONSTRUCTION TRAILER: Sent by Billie Jo:

This is a black dump-style trailer with wood sidings added to it and an electric covering. This dump trailer was last seen located at 6011 37th Ave SW Seattle, WA and belongs to a small local construction company. I’ve attached a photo of what the trailer would look like without the wood siding added to it. Plate number 56401AA; tab Number P410628. Please call 206-276-7164 if spotted or Seattle police (911).

LOOKING FOR CRASH CLUES: One of the victims of a driver who hit at least two parked cars in Highland Park is trying to sort out what happened and wondering if there were any witnesses,

This happened near 11th and Holden but debris were found at 13th/Webster; our tipster says the debris suggest the other vehicle was a white Ford. The other vehicle might have been impounded but the victims are just trying to find out what happened and were told the police report won’t be available for at least a week. SPD incident # is 21-154036.If you know anything about the crash, contact us and we can connect you.

Early this morning, someone reported to 911 that they heard suspected gunfire near Admiral Safeway. Later in the morning, employees at Umpqua Bank – next to the supermarket – found the source. According to a preliminary police report, the employees “found two bullet holes in the glass of the bank … a thick laminated glass and it shattered from the bullets.” They called police, who. the report says, “recovered two bullets from the floor of the bank.” Incident number is 21-154202.

(update) Three reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

ANOTHER CATALYTIC CONVERTER STOLEN: Carly reports her parents were visiting her in Admiral when their Prius was hit by catalytic-converter thieves last night It was parked on the street near 42nd/College, by the library.

(added 7:24 pm) AND ANOTHER: Since we published this, Scott emailed to report, “Thieves got my Element converter AGAIN …. 2nd time in about a month. Belvidere area, 5 am Saturday.”

CAR VANDALIZED: A texter reported their partner’s rear car window was shattered by a beer bottle this past Thursday, while parked by her workplace, Les Schwab Tires (WSB sponsor) at Fauntleroy/Alaska. The vandal also “left dents all around the back.”

A guilty plea and sentencing have closed the case on West Seattle’s first 2020 murder, the killing of 41-year-old Jana Layman in her Junction-area home. Her then-roommate Solomon Whitt, now 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder as well as to child-rape and child-pornography charges that resulted from discoveries made during the investigation. Last Friday, according to court documents, King County Superior Court Judge Douglass North sentenced Whitt to 31 years and two months – top of the standard sentencing range – for the murder, and concurrent sentences from six to 23 years for the other charges. As reported here after he was charged in January 2020, Whitt said he attacked the victim after she asked him to move out, and tried to make her death look like an accident.