Man was ‘extremely paranoid’ during marijuana sale and fatally shot man in Lakewood
Matthew Malone was acting paranoid during a marijuana sale in a dark Lakewood parking lot and ended up shooting a man who showed up to buy the drugs, according to court documents.
On Thursday, Pierce County prosecutors charged the 40-year-old Rochester man with second-degree murder for the Feb. 2 death of Oral Roy Rhoden.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Malone’s behalf at arraignment. Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams ordered him held in lieu of $1 million bail.
He was arrested Wednesday by a U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force after barricading himself inside a Thurston County home. Malone surrendered after a SWAT team responded.
Police say he’s the one who arranged the drug deal where Rhoden, 32, was shot. The gunman is not in custody.
Charging papers give this account:
Police were called to St. Clare Hospital the night of Feb. 2 after Rhoden was dropped off with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Rhoden died of his injuries.
Surveillance footage from the hospital showed a Honda Civic and an Infinity QX30 pull up to the emergency room entrance and flag down medical assistance.
After medical personnel pulled Rhoden from the backseat of the Honda, both drivers took off.
“The people that dropped him off did not stick around to explain what happened,” Lakewood police Lt. Chris Lawler said.
Detectives were able to track the vehicles to the registered owners and after a few days figure out where the shooting occurred.
Video footage from that scene showed a Jeep Grand Cherokee pull into an apartment complex parking lot in the 7500 block of 146th Street Southwest about 8:45 p.m. There was a man driving (Malone) and a man in the backseat.
Moments later, the Infinity pulled in and parked nearby. A man got out of the driver’s seat, walked over to the Jeep and got in the front seat.
He later allegedly told police he met the other men with plans to buy a pound of marijuana for $1,200.
That man said the backseat passenger was acting ““extremely paranoid with him, at one point flipping out over a car that pulled into the parking lot, believing it to be a police car,” records say.
As the Infinity driver was counting out cash, Rhoden pulled up in his Honda and parked next to the Jeep.
The Infinity driver said he then heard the backseat passenger say something before two to three gunshots rang out.
Video showed Rhoden approach the back passenger door of the Jeep, and “the rear passenger of the Jeep then fired multiple shots in the direction of Rhoden,” prosecutors wrote in charging papers.
Rhoden fell to the ground, then got up and ran.
The Infinity driver jumped out of the Jeep’s front seat and also fled before the Jeep sped away with the door still open.
Phone records place Malone at the scene at the time of the shooting, police said.
Text messages were also found between Malone and the Infinity driver setting up the drug deal.
The Infinity driver told police Rhoden also came to the parking lot to buy marijuana.
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 12:48 PM.
