Woman was found dead in Tacoma street after gunfire at encampment. Now 1 is sentenced
A 60-year-old man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a woman at a homeless encampment in Tacoma was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison.
Randy Douglas Brown pleaded guilty in Pierce County Superior Court in August to second-degree murder for the March 27 killing of 38-year-old Yinairy Medina Castro. According to court records, Brown and Castro were living in tents in the encampment near Tacoma Avenue South and Delin Street when the shooting occurred.
Charging documents alleged that Brown shot the woman after she told others at the encampment that he had been touching her.
Tacoma Police Department detectives learned through witnesses that Castro told the boyfriend of one witness that Brown had been touching her. According to the probable cause document, the boyfriend confronted Brown and asked, “Really, you did that?”
Brown reportedly did not respond to the man and walked toward his tent. A few seconds later, the man who’d confronted him heard gunshots. Investigators later learned that Castro was sitting on a couch when Brown shot her.
Police were dispatched to the area at about 10:43 a.m. for a report of a woman lying in the street after a passerby found the victim. Castro reportedly had bullet wounds on both sides of her neck when officers arrived. Life-saving measures were started, but she died at the scene.
Brown was arrested a little more than a week after the shooting after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He has remained in custody since.
Prosecutors originally charged Brown with first-degree murder, but the charge was lowered to second-degree murder before he pleaded guilty. Deputy prosecuting attorney Sunni Ko wrote in a court filing asking the court to accept the amended charge that all the witnesses were homeless and could be difficult to locate. She said the defendant was taking responsibility and saving judicial resources.
According to court records, the defendant has seven prior felony convictions from Warren, Maine, for offenses including criminal mischief, burglary and theft.
Brown also was sentenced Tuesday for burglarizing a towing yard in Central Tacoma on Thanksgiving last year. According to charging documents, he and a woman cut a hole in a fence to gain entry and responding police officers saw Brown peering into vehicles with a flashlight. He pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary Aug. 30 and was sentenced Tuesday to eight months, which he would serve at the same time as his murder sentence.
Alex MacDonald, the defendant’s attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel, said Tuesday that the punishment Judge Edmund Murphy imposed was one he and prosecutors agreed to recommend.
Brown gave a statement during his sentencing hearing, according to the defense attorney. McDonald said Brown was apologetic and expressed remorse. The attorney said no one was present on behalf of Castro.
Castro was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, and was a Washington resident according to an obituary. The obit said she spent time working in a factory, and she was passionate about makeup and hair styling. Her remains were returned to Humacao for burial.
