Teen fatally shot in Fife parking lot over stolen marijuana. Man charged 4 months later
A teenager shot dead in a Fife parking lot earlier this year was killed because of stolen marijuana, records say.
On Monday, a warrant was issued for 21-year-old Shawn Cooke and Pierce County prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder and second-degree murder.
He is not in custody.
Detectives interviewed Cooke shortly after the May 13 death of 17-year-old Cameron Wilson but let him go because they did not have enough evidence at the time to arrest him.
Wilson was found dead in about 12:20 a.m. May 13 in a restaurant parking lot near the 1300 block of Willow Road East.
Residents initially called 911 after hearing a gunshot. As officers searched for a possible shooting scene, somebody else called 911 to report finding a body.
Officials did not immediately identify the victim because he had no identification on him.
Wilson’s family and friends contacted police after hearing about the shooting and expressed concern because Wilson had not come home the night before.
Friends at Todd Beamer High School told police somebody named “Cooke” had been calling and messaging Wilson the day before the shooting to set up a fight.
Wilson stole “a large quantity of marijuana” around February from an associate of Cooke’s, according to charging papers.
Cooke allegedly told Wilson to come to the restaurant where he was shot to fight the man he stole marijuana from. Cooke threatened to seek him out with a gun if he didn’t, records say.
Detectives found video surveillance near the scene and spotted a person matching Wilson’s description walking east on Pacific Highway East moments before he was killed.
The video showed a Chrysler Sebring with no front license plate drive into the area and park in the restaurant’s lot.
Within 20 seconds of Wilson passing the Sebring, the driver allegedly flipped on the headlights and sped in the same direction.
“A few minutes later, an unrelated vehicle drove by and its headlights shined into the parking lot, showing Wilson’s body lying in the parking lot near where the silver car had been parked,” prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
Police found a Chrysler Sebring registered in Cooke’s name and put out a statewide bulletin.
On May 15, Cooke and his girlfriend were spotted at a restaurant in Cle Elum and were stopped in a Ford Explorer. The girlfriend was released and Cooke was brought back to Fife.
He denied being involved in Wilson’s death but admitted arranging a fight, records say.
Cooke told detectives he was smoking marijuana with his girlfriend and another friend the night Wilson died.
When confronted about his Sebring being seen on video, Cooke said he’d lost the keys and the car before the shooting and bought the Ford Explorer he was pulled over in.
He claimed he was heading to camp with his girlfriend when police stopped him in Cle Elum.
Police released him after the interview.
The Sebring was found abandoned in South Tacoma days after the shooting.
In the Explorer, police found a stolen handgun, another handgun and three cell phones. There was no camping gear.
After interviewing Cooke, detectives tracked down video showing Cooke driving his Sebring at his girlfriend’s apartment days after he claimed he’d lost it.
The cell phones also showed a Snapchat conversation between Cooke and Wilson less than two hours before the shooting, as well as a maps search for the restaurant where Wilson was killed 40 minutes before the incident.
Cooke’s girlfriend’s phone had location services open, which allowed police to track it to the restaurant around the time Wilson was shot.
This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 9:42 AM.
