They asked where he was from. When the man said, ‘Hilltop,’ they shot and killed him

The three men were cruising around Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, looking for rival gang members to shoot.

On July 18, Pierce County prosecutors allege, they found a 2004 Ford Explorer parked on the street at South 14th and L streets. Inside were a man and woman, eating food.

One of the men asked where the couple was from.

Robert Doss II, a passenger in the Explorer, said he was from Hilltop.

The SUV with the three men inside slowly crept forward. Someone in the backseat, a hooded sweatshirt covering his face, leaned out the window and opened fire.

Doss, 28, was shot in the chest. The 20-year-old woman behind the wheel was shot in the hand.

She managed to drive them to St. Joseph Medical Center, where Doss died shortly afterward.

The woman is expected to survive.

That same night, detectives received a tip about a group “confronting others about their gang status” at a convenience store on the East Side.

Surveillance footage showed the confrontation took place 20 minutes before the shooting. It also allowed police to identify the man driving the SUV.

On Tuesday night, three men were arrested at a Graham house on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Adrian Alvarez, 22; Jayden Montgomery Fisher, 20; and Joshua Soria, 24, with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.

All pleaded not guilty at arraignment. Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set bail at $2 million for Alvarez, and at $1 million for Montgomery Fisher and Soria.

According to charging papers:

Montgomery Fisher admitted being the driver and fingered Alvarez as the shooter.

He told detectives a fellow gang member was seriously injured in a May 16 shooting and they believed Doss was responsible.

On the night of the shooting, Montgomery Fisher, Alvarez and Soria were looking for any rival gang members to shoot.

“It was just a coincidence that Doss II was the one they found,” the records state.

Witnesses said the trio returned home about 2 a.m. after the shooting and appeared nervous.

Montgomery Fisher and Alvarez shaved their heads. Alvarez also allegedly tried to destroy the handgun used in the shooting by melting it.

Michael Doss, who identified himself as a bishop at the Deliverance House of Prayer in Tacoma, said outside court that he got the call about his nephew’s death while he was in Canada.

“It just took our breath away,” he said. “We don’t really know what happened.”

He said Robert Doss worked security at a fast-food restaurant downtown Tacoma, “doing what he had to do.”

The family celebrated Fourth of July together with a picnic in Spanaway, and Bishop Doss said he remembers his nephew playing basketball that day.

“When he won, he got the biggest smile,” Doss said.

The family held a vigil for him Tuesday at the intersection where the shooting happened.

Asked about the allegation that the shooting might have been retaliation, Doss said they are a Christian family, and don’t know anything about gang payback.

“That’s not our family,” he said

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 3:04 PM.