Man charged, arrested in connection to fatal shooting outside Tacoma apartment complex
A man suspected of fatally shooting someone in a fight outside a Tacoma apartment complex has been charged with second-degree murder.
Pierce County Jail records show Alvin Xavier Lee, 33, was booked Thursday night. He pleaded not guilty at arraignment Friday, and Superior Court Judge Susan Adams set bail at $1 million.
Lee’s accused of killing 40-year-old Scott Jonathon Univer on Sunday in a parking lot in the 200 block of South 80th Street.
“Given that the victim was in possession of multiple IDs that had been stolen in vehicle prowls, detectives speculated that the victim tried to prowl the defendant’s vehicle,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
Pierce County Superior Court issued a warrant for Lee’s arrest Thursday, and police found him during a traffic stop in the 3200 block of East Portland Avenue.
Charging papers give this account of the shooting:
Officers responded to a report of a fight. They found Univer on the ground, and after CPR he died at the scene. He had a gunshot wound to his chest.
Investigators spoke to witnesses and learned Univer and another man had argued. Someone thought they heard the other man tell Univer to stay away from his home and his family.
Then the argument became a fistfight, and there was a gunshot.
The suspect left in a GMC Yukon, and investigators found one parked in a nearby neighborhood.
Detectives learned Lee was driving that vehicle when Ruston police stopped it in March. Then he was identified from a photo montage as a suspect in the homicide.
When investigators spoke with the victim’s mother, she said that her son had struggled with his mental health in recent years, and that “she did not think he had issues with anyone,” the probable cause statement said.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 11:04 AM.
