A 16-year-old boy charged in the shooting death of a Tacoma man who had gone out looking for his lost dog pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.
James J. Stimson Jr. is charged as an adult in the Nov. 18 death of David Watson, 45. Superior Court Commissioner Meagan Foley ordered Stimson jailed in lieu of $2 million bail.
Stimson was charged within days of Watson’s death but eluded police until Sunday, when they arrested him about 4 a.m. at an apartment he is known to frequent near South 30th and Tyler streets.
Marcus Langford, 16, also is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and also has pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Police said the teens ran across Watson in the early-morning hours in the parking lot of a convenience store at South 56th and Lawrence streets after Watson went out searching for his dog.
Prosecutors say Stimson and Langford were trying to rob Watson when Stimson allegedly shot the man as he sat in his pickup.
Langford told investigators that Stimson demanded Watson give him “all you got,” then shot Watson after he grabbed for the gun, court records show. Surveillance video appears to show someone reaching inside the window of Watson’s truck before two young men run off, the records show.
Watson managed to drive a few blocks before wrecking. People who live nearby found him and called 911. Watson died at the hospital. His dog was found uninjured.
After his arrest, Stimson denied trying to rob Watson. He told detectives Watson “charged” at him, so he pulled out a gun and shot him, court records show.
Stimson, who said he bought the murder weapon on the street, said he later dismantled the gun and disposed of it in various locations, the records show.
A relative of Stimson’s previously told police he had stolen a gun from her home that was the same caliber as the gun used to kill Watson, court records show.
stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
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