Fistfight in Pierce County ended in automatic gunfire. Now shooter is sentenced
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Defendant fired a fully automatic handgun during arranged fistfight, injuring two.
- Jury convicted Slaughter of multiple firearm assault counts; judge sentenced 25 years.
- Prosecutors argued lack of remorse at sentencing; co-defendant also received jail term.
The young man who shot two people with a fully automatic handgun during an arranged fistfight last year outside the Sprinker Recreation Center in Parkland has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Raffael Lamarr Slaughter, Jr., 20, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree assault with a firearm and second-degree assault with a firearm in a jury trial in August. According to prosecutors, he disabled one of the victims he shot in the leg and face, and the other had permanent nerve damage in one hand.
The third victim later told authorities she ducked behind a vehicle when Slaughter began firing and feared she would be killed or seriously wounded.
Slaughter argued he fired the shots to defend himself and others, court records say, including his girlfriend who he said was being assaulted. He also told police he thought one of the people he shot was going to his truck to get a weapon, and that he saw the butt of the rifle in the truck.
Prosecutors said police found no rifle in the vehicle, and video showed Slaughter aiming the gun to fire as that man was running toward the truck.
“Slaughter had already decided, before he even saw anyone assaulting his girlfriend, that he was going to shoot one of his intended victims,” deputy prosecuting attorney Sunni Ko wrote in a trial brief.
Jim Oliver, Slaughter’s defense attorney, told The News Tribune that he thought the videos supported their argument that Slaughter fired the shots to defend himself and others, but he said the jury felt differently. Slaughter had no prior criminal history.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stanley Rumbaugh imposed Slaughter’s sentence Jan. 2, giving him a punishment below the standard sentencing range of about 26 to 32 years in prison.
Prosecutors, defense give sentencing recommendations
Ko asked for a prison term of 31 years, seven months, arguing that a sentence below the standard range wasn’t appropriate. She said the defense could not prove Slaughter deserved that on the basis that he wasn’t able to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct due to his age and immaturity. Slaughter was 19 at the time.
Ko pointed to a phone call Slaughter had with his father after a jury declared him guilty, in which Slaughter said he would have done the same thing and wasn’t sorry.
“He did not fire that automatic gun because he did not understand the risks involved and the consequences of firing 34 bullets,” Ko wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “He fired that gun because he felt ‘justified’ in his actions, and given the chance, he’d do it again.”
Oliver, who recommended a 23-year sentence, said a forensic psychological evaluation of Slaughter supported his argument that it was appropriate to give his client a sentence below the standard range. The evaluation diagnosed Slaughter with PTSD, major depressive disorder and ADHD. Oliver said Slaughter had witnessed shootings as a child and was grazed by a bullet in one incident. He also struggled with housing and food insecurity.
Asked about the jail call prosecutors referenced, Oliver said he thought Slaughter being found guilty on all three counts was a “gut punch” to the young man. Oliver said he thought they had a reasonably plausible defense as to the victim who was struck in the legs.
“It didn’t look like it was an intentional assault — it looked like it was a warning shot,” Oliver said.
And at sentencing, Oliver said Slaughter apologized to the victims and their families. The attorney said he felt Slaughter’s words were heartfelt.
The man who brought the gun to the fight and handed it off to Slaughter, Marlo Raloine Clair, 21, pleaded guilty in February last year to felony unlawful possession of a machine gun and two counts of harassment with bodily injury, a gross misdemeanor. He was given a 90-day jail term for the felony and a suspended sentence of a year in jail for his other offenses.
The firearm, a 9 mm Glock handgun with an extended magazine and a full-auto switch, allowed Slaughter to fire the weapon 34 times within seconds, according to court records.
Name calling and sexual assault allegations sparked fight
The fight on Feb. 26, 2024 was over name calling and allegations of sexual assault, according to prosecutors’ trial brief. It was also about a girl.
Slaughter and one of the victims, identified by initials J.R. in charging papers, worked at the same fast-food restaurant two years before the fight. They liked the same girl, but she and Slaughter ended up becoming a couple. J.R. changed jobs and lost contact with the couple, but after a couple years they began showing up at the drive-thru window where J.R. worked.
On the night of the fight, J.R. learned that the couple had been telling employees where he worked that J.R. was a “creep” and a “weirdo” and made claims about him sexually assaulting Slaughter’s girlfriend years earlier. J.R.’s sister, who knew the girlfriend, contacted her. Through a series of text messages, they arranged for J.R. and Slaughter to fight.
Ko noted in her trial brief that Slaughter’s girlfriend never alleged sexual misconduct on J.R.’s part while they worked together or reported sexual misconduct to the police.
Multiple people arrived for the fight, including J.R., his sister and her boyfriend. Slaughter brought his girlfriend, her brother, Clair and his girlfriend. Prosecutors said J.R.’s sister recorded the fight on her cellphone.
Clair flashed his gun while the two fought, and when they were done, Clair handed the gun to Slaughter so he, too, could fight J.R. Prosecutors said he had never met Clair and did not want to fight, but Clair repeatedly pursued him.
The boyfriend of J.R.’s sister, identified as D.J.E., believed the situation was getting out of control and wanted to leave, according to prosecutors. He ran across the parking lot, got in his truck and drove it to where J.R. and Clair were fighting. He got out and went to his sister, who prosecutors said was being assaulted by Slaughter’s girlfriend.
When everyone was separated, prosecutors said Slaughter began firing his automatic pistol.
Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Slaughter and Clair the next day in a car in Tacoma.
