Kent woman killed by ex-boyfriend had sought protective order

The young woman shot to death at a home in Kent over the weekend had tried desperately to get away from a violent and possessive boyfriend for more than a year, obtaining a protective order and calling the police repeatedly because of his threats and stalking behavior, according to court documents.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the woman as Karen Perez Placencia, 24. Kent police say she was shot and killed Sunday night by her estranged boyfriend, Erick Ortuno-Perez, 24, who also shot and wounded another woman before killing himself, according to Kent police.

The identity of the other victim has not been released.

Court records indicate that Placencia and Ortuno-Perez had a 4-year-old daughter.

The shooting occurred in the 20400 block of 92nd Avenue South. Records indicate Ortuno-Perez had lived on and off at that residence, which apparently is owned by his parents.

Placencia first sought a protection order against Ortuno-Perez in August 2015, asking the court to prevent him from injuring, harassing or coming closer than 500 feet from her or the child.

In her petition, she said that she and Ortuno-Perez and their daughter had gone to dinner to discuss a breakup and how often Ortuno-Perez would be able to see their child. The child became fussy, she said, and they instead went to his apartment.

“I told him he is not aloud (sic) for now and I need my time and I don’t want him texting me and calling me because I need to heal from our breakup and he can’t be controlling what I do and he need to give me my time,” she wrote.

“He got very mad,” she wrote, saying he trashed the apartment and frightened their child. He refused to let them leave, Placencia wrote, but he eventually agreed to take the woman and child to her apartment to obtain some medicine for his daughter.

On her way to the car, she said, “I saw my opportunity to run away and I ran with my daughter … in my hands” and hid behind a fence while Ortuno-Perez searched for them. Placencia said she eventually ran to a neighbor’s house and called the police.

“Erick Ortuno-Perez has threatened to kill me and himself and my family if I do not stay with him,” she said. She wrote in court documents that he had threatened suicide in August 2015.

The court, following a hearing in which Ortuno-Perez did not appear, granted a one-year protective order, which expired Oct. 25 this year.

“I want it to last … until I see he gets help for himself and does not harm us!” she wrote.

In October 2015, Ortuno-Perez was arrested by Kent police following a drive-by shooting at El Habanero restaurant. A charge was later dismissed after detectives determined he was not the shooter, but rather a friend of the victim.

However, the incident led to a confrontation with Placencia’s family, according to charges. The family claimed that Ortuno-Perez had come to their house at 3 a.m. that morning with his mother, demanding to talk to Karen Placencia and allegedly stating that he may have killed someone. He was turned away by her father, who claimed that Ortuno-Perez threatened to kill him.

Prosecutors charged Ortuno-Perez with violating the protective order and felony harassment.

However, his attorney questioned her family’s version of events, wondering in court pleadings why Ortuno-Perez would confess to something he was not involved in, and also questioning the veracity of their story.

The charges were dismissed after Placencia declined to testify, according to the court records.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Kent woman killed by ex-boyfriend had sought protective order."