$10 million bail for man accused of Tacoma shooting that killed Camille Love in 2010
Santiago Mederos was arraigned in front of a Pierce County judge Friday, roughly a decade after he was charged in connection to two Tacoma homicides.
He pleaded not guilty at arraignment to charges related to the deaths of 20-year-old Camille Love and 25-year-old Saul Lucas-Alfonso.
Superior Court Judge Kathryn Nelson set bail at $10 million in each case.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Mederos, 29, was arrested in June in Tenancingo, Mexico and returned to the United States.
He made the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list in 2017.
Mederos is charged with first-degree murder in Love’s death. He’s also charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and unlawful gun possession in that case.
He’s charged with second-degree murder in the death of Lucas-Alfonso.
Mederos and six others were charged in connection to Love’s death.
Court records said he and at least one other person shot at the car Love and her brother were traveling in. Prosecutors alleged they targeted the car because of its color while looking for rival gang members in retaliation for another shooting. Police said the Loves were not affiliated with a gang. Camille Love was an aspiring veterinary technician.
Love died from her injuries and her brother was wounded.
A month after, Mederos was allegedly part of a group that ransacked a car in a Tacoma alley that belonged to someone they thought owed their group money.
Prosecutors said a fight started when several men confronted them, and Mederos fired, fatally hitting Lucas-Alfonso.
“The victims who lost their lives in 2010 were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jay Tabb, Jr. said at a press conference in 2017.
