He shot a Xanax dealer at UPS, then posted a Tweet. Now he's been sentenced

An 18-year-old who shot and injured another teenager he allegedly was supposed to buy Xanax from at the University of Puget Sound has been sentenced.

After Dale Scott Madden was in custody, the same gun was used in two other shootings, and still hasn’t been found, investigators said.

Madden pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and unlawful gun possession for the June 23 shooting. Friday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend gave him 14 years, three months in prison.

According to charging papers:

Madden and the 17-year-old victim agreed to meet shortly after midnight in the 3300 block of North 11th Street.

When the 17-year-old showed up, Madden reached into the car and grabbed him by the throat, then held a gun to the teen’s head and demanded the drugs.

The teen hit the gas, and Madden fired at him as he drove away.

The bullets hit the 17-year-old in the jaw and shoulder, but he was able to drive to the hospital. His girlfriend, who was in the car, was not hurt.

Meanwhile, Madden fled and later tweeted: “never turn myself in you gotta come catch me,” according to court records.

He eventually fled to Portland, where U.S. marshals arrested him several weeks after the shooting.

But the gun used in the shooting still hasn’t been found.

“We were obviously concerned about the location of the gun that Madden had used in the shooting and we asked him about it,” Detective Timothy Griffith wrote the court ahead of sentencing.

“Madden seemed evasive, but said that he had thrown it away, changing his story a couple of times regarding where and when he had done so.”

The detective's letter also referred to Madden’s tweet, the resources it took to find and arrest him and the danger in which he put the victims and others in the area of the shooting.

Defense attorney Duncan Lewis wrote the court that Madden was high on cocaine that night, and has been diagnosed with mental health disorders, such as ADHD and Oppositional-Defiant Disorder.

“Dale Madden did not ask to be born with these disorders and is not responsible for them,” Lewis wrote. “By their very nature, they compound the problems the normal teenaged brain would encounter with impulsivity, understanding of the consequences of actions and peer pressure.”

The attorney also told the judge that Madden was adopted as a child, that his biological mother had used methamphetamine, and that he struggled in recent years after he learned details about her death.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 8:00 AM with the headline "He shot a Xanax dealer at UPS, then posted a Tweet. Now he's been sentenced."