Tacoma man attempted to break up an altercation before he was fatally shot, charges say
A 15-year-old boy suspected of telling someone to shoot a Tacoma man last week has been charged with murder.
Prosecutors charged the teenager with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Kadony Robbins. The News Tribune does not generally name juvenile suspects who have not been charged as adults.
The teenager was ordered to be held in secure detention at Remann Hall. Prosecutors have filed a motion to transfer his case to adult court, documents show.
Officers were dispatched on Feb. 14 at about 1 a.m. to an apartment building in the 1300 block of South G Street for a reported homicide. Robbins was found on the ground in the doorway to the apartments after suffering a gunshot wound, according to charging documents. Shell casings were scattered in the area as well.
Robbins was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, prosecutors wrote.
Detectives learned there was a party in one of the apartments and the 15-year-old was a friend or acquaintance of one of the people attending.
Robbins’ girlfriend told detectives that she and the victim were at the building for a get together. It was getting loud in the apartment so everyone was asked to leave, prosecutors wrote.
An argument ensued between the 15-year-old and an older man,according to another witness. The teen and his friends were asked to leave and the argument continued, prosecutors wrote. The teen was angry that the man physically grabbed him.
Robbins attempted to escort the teenager out, documents show. A witness told detectives that Robbins “continuously and insistently” tried to prevent the teenager and his friends from re-entering the apartment building.
The witness heard Robbins say, “Don’t say that! Don’t say that to my girlfriend,” prosecutors wrote. Robbins’ girlfriend told detectives that Robbins was yelling at the teenager after the suspect hit her. The teenager allegedly told one of the people with him to “Shoot [Robbins]” or give him the gun so he could do it. Robbins was struck once in the chest.
Another witness at the scene also told detectives that Robbins was trying to calm the teenager down prior to the shooting, documents show.
The teenager was detained after arriving at the hospital where Robbins was transported, prosecutors wrote.
Tacoma police say the investigation is ongoing.
