Second man charged in double homicide in University Place, held on $5 million bail

A 21-year-old arrested in connection with a double homicide in University Place earlier this year was arraigned Friday.

Alex Lopez Leon pleaded not guilty to two charges of second-degree murder, and Pierce County Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set bail at $5 million.

Lopez Leon is the second person charged in the deaths of 22-year-old Wilberth Acala and 19-year-old Adrian Valencia.

The alleged shooter, 30-year-old Javier Valenzuela Felix, is awaiting trial after he pleaded not guilty to the same charges in June.

Charging papers give this account:

The four men planned to fire shots off as they drove around May 14. Then Valenzuela Felix suddenly shot Valencia in the head, and told Acala to drive them somewhere they could leave the body. When they got there, Valenzuela Felix shot Acala in the head.

The bodies were found in the vehicle in the 6100 block of 63rd Street West, after a neighbor called to report what looked like two men passed out inside.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived and found the two dead.

Lopez Leon told investigators he didn’t come forward, because he had a drug warrant and feared he’d be blamed for the killings.

He was sentenced to 13 months and a day in prison in September 2016 for driving a load of methamphetamine across the border from Mexico into the United States, according to federal court records.

That was the first time he’d been arrested, the records state.

He allegedly violated terms of his federal probation by leaving the residential re-entry center where he was living in December.

He was released to U.S. marshals in June, after Pierce County sheriff’s deputies arrested him in connection with the University Place shootings.

They brought him back to the Pierce County Jail on Thursday.