‘I’m gonna lite that house up.’ Women beefed online before gunman killed 1 in Tacoma
A 20-year-old man killed earlier this year in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood was fatally shot after an argument between two women on social media whom he wasn’t involved with turned into a physical confrontation that led to gunfire, according to charging documents.
One of the women involved, Audrianna Young, has been charged in Pierce County Superior Court with second-degree murder in the April 18 killing of 20-year-old Lehman Charrod Tucker, court records say. She hasn’t been apprehended, according to police, and she’s not suspected of pulling the trigger.
The alleged gunman is a man described as Young’s boyfriend at the time of the shooting, Artavious Zyshue Magee, 22. He was charged in June with two counts of second-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was taken into custody Tuesday in Tacoma.
Magee appeared for arraignment Wednesday afternoon, and pleas of not guilty were entered on his behalf. After hearing from a deputy prosecuting attorney and an attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set bail at $1.5 million.
The victim’s mother, La Jonna Johnson, addressed the court to ask McInvaille to set that amount of bail, telling the commissioner that the safety of herself, her family and the community was at stake. She called Magee a menace to society and questioned why he’d previously been released from custody while other charges were pending against him. According to a pretrial services report, Magee had at least one other pending charge at the time of his arrest.
“Why ruin the rest of my life because of his actions?” Johnson said. “My family has had enough pain and agony.”
According to court records, Magee has prior felony convictions in King County for first-degree theft and possession of a stolen firearm. Deputy prosecuting attorney Matt Morrow said the defendant has been under Department of Corrections supervision since July 7.
Young does not appear to have any prior felony convictions in Pierce County.
Online argument turns physical
On the day of the shooting, Tucker, a friend of his and the friend’s girlfriend were hanging out in an apartment building at 701 S. Yakima Ave., according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. The girlfriend reportedly told police that she’d been dating Tucker’s friend for seven months. Young allegedly was angry that her ex boyfriend (Tucker’s friend) and his new girlfriend were expecting a child, court records show.
The girlfriend had been receiving Instagram messages from Young all day, she told police, and in one, Young allegedly sent a photo of herself holding a pistol with a caption that said, “I’m gonna lite that house up.”
Eventually, Young showed up at the apartment and messaged the woman that she wanted to fight, the girlfriend told police. Records state she sent her boyfriend and Tucker to confront her, and then she heard an argument and six to seven gunshots.
Young later allegedly told detectives that she was there to fight the woman, and she brought a friend — identified by police as Magee — for protection. Records state she said she knew Tucker had a gun and claimed he pulled it out when they bumped into each other outside.
Prosecutors wrote in charging documents that according to a detective’s report, no gun was recovered at the crime scene, and none of the witnesses reported seeing Tucker with a gun. The two people he was with at the apartment also said he didn’t have a gun when he went outside to confront Young.
Tucker’s friend backed up what his girlfriend said about Young sending threatening messages in his interview with detectives. According to the probable cause document, he said he and Tucker went outside to try to end the argument. The two went different directions and Tucker reportedly ran into Tucker and Magee first. The friend said he heard arguing, then turned a corner and saw Tucker talking with Young and a person he didn’t recognize who was wearing a mask and a hoodie.
The friend allegedly told detectives he yelled at the group, saw Tucker turn around, and then the person in the hoodie shot Tucker in the back several times.
Anonymous tip leads to arrest
Multiple witnesses reported seeing two people running south through an alley behind the apartment building after gunfire rang out, according to the probable cause document. Detectives also obtained surveillance footage that showed Young and a male getting in a white Volkswagen Jetta.
Young was arrested April 29, and records state detectives seized her cell phone. A forensic search wasn’t initially successful, but prosecutors wrote in charging papers that it was noted a background photo appeared to show her holding a handgun. Young declined to be interviewed, and she was released from custody pending further investigation.
About a month later, Young contacted the lead detective on the case by phone to ask about getting the white Jetta released, which she said belonged to her grandmother. She declined to tell the detective who the shooter was, saying she was afraid of retaliation, but she allegedly confirmed she was at the scene of the homicide.
An anonymous tipster later told detectives that the shooter was Young’s boyfriend at the time, Magee. The tip said Magee sometimes stayed at an apartment complex in Seattle, and records state that detectives had seen Young’s white Jetta there a few days after the homicide.
Detectives later contacted the tipster and set up an interview. The tipster said Magee typically communicates with people through Instagram and described getting messages from him in the days after the shooting saying he’d “smoked someone” and that he had to go on the run.
The tipster, also described as a witness, said Magee told her he didn’t even know the guy, and he referred to the person he shot as “Rod,” according to the probable cause document. The witness said Magee told her he had to kill the victim because he thought the man was going to kill him first, and he didn’t want his son to grow up without a dad.
Magee allegedly told the witness Tucker was clutching a gun when they ran into each other, but records state he didn’t describe actually seeing the weapon. In interviews with detectives, Young allegedly said that during the confrontation, Tucker kept his hand in his pocket.
