She set up a robbery where a man was killed, records say. Now she’s charged with murder
A fatal shooting in Tacoma earlier this summer stemmed from a set-up robbery, according to charging documents filed Friday against a second suspect.
The victim, 39-year-old Ronnal Hines, was killed July 30 when a man came up to his car at a South Tacoma gas station, pointed a handgun at him and demanded everything he had. The alleged shooter, Malik Patterson, has been arrested and charged with the killing.
Now, court documents say Patterson’s girlfriend, Taushelle Devani Ellis-Dorsey, 24, was tasked with helping to orchestrate the robbery that led to the shooting. Prosecutors wrote in the documents that the woman allegedly rode with the victim in his car while texting Patterson their whereabouts.
Ellis-Dorsey was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree murder. She was arraigned Friday, and pleas of not guilty were entered. Court records show Judge Elizabeth Martin set bail at $750,000.
According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, charging documents filed against Patterson last month contained errors about who was with the victim the night before the fatal shooting. Prosecutors originally said Hines, his ex-girlfriend and Patterson were at a party at the Econo Lodge on South Hosmer Street the previous evening, and that the ex-girlfriend was in Hines’ car when the shooting occurred. But Hines’ ex-girlfriend contacted prosecutors this month and told them she was not at the Econo Lodge that night and wasn’t involved in the homicide.
Using forensic evidence and body-camera footage from Tacoma police, investigators confirmed it was Ellis-Dorsey who was with the victim, not his ex-girlfriend.
Detectives re-contacted Ellis-Dosey on Sept. 8, records say, and she said she went to the Econo Lodge early the morning of the homicide with Patterson. While there, a man described as a friend of her boyfriend approached and asked if she would “ride around” in the victim’s car because Patterson wanted to take his gun.
“Ellis-Dorsey agreed to assist in the robbery,” prosecutors wrote. “She stated she got into the victim’s vehicle, stating that the victim believed he was taking her to a party.”
Surveillance video from the Econo Lodge showed Ellis-Dorsey and Hines talking with one another at about 3 a.m., according to the probable cause document. The two drove out of the parking lot in a Ford Mustang shortly after 4 a.m.
Ellis-Dorsey and Hines went to the gas station in the 5400 block of South Orchard Street. Witnesses reported seeing their vehicle move to different locations in the parking lot several times. One told police the two appeared to be “smoking and having a good time.”
The shooting occurred about 5:20 a.m. Ellis-Dorsey said Patterson walked up to the Mustang with a gun in his hand, pointing it at Hines.
“He told the victim, ‘This is a robbery! Give me all your [expletive]!’ The victim responded by retrieving his own firearm, which is when the shooting occurred,” records state.
After the shooting, Ellis-Dorsey fled and met up with Patterson, she told investigators. According to the probable cause document, the friend of Patterson who approached her at the party picked them up in a vehicle and dropped Ellis-Dorsey off at her home.
