Braylon Diaz was shot ‘without provocation.’ 2 charged in Parkland teen’s death
Two people have been charged with murder in the shooting death last month of Parkland teenager Braylon Diaz.
According to charging documents, the suspects are 26-year-old Alyssa Marie Vaught-Barr and 21-year-old Brandon Torres-Mesa, who is at large.
Vaught-Barr’s boyfriend also has been arrested and charged with being a fugitive in connection to a warrant issued in Oregon. The News Tribune is not naming him because he has not been charged in Diaz’s death.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesperson Carly Cappetto said the Sheriff’s Office believes there are more people involved besides those three.
Prosecutors charged Vaught-Barr with first-degree murder Tuesday, and Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set bail at $1 million during an arraignment in Pierce County Superior Court.
The incident happened Sunday, May 24, while Diaz was walking and a car pulled up, deputies have said. The people inside robbed him of his jewelry, then shot him and drove away. Deputies received the call at 7:13 p.m. and found Diaz’s body in the 10200 block of Sheridan Avenue South, a few blocks west of Pacific Avenue.
According to charging documents, Vaught-Barr and her boyfriend have both claimed her boyfriend was not in the car when the shooting happened. Police found papers for her boyfriend in the glove box of the suspect vehicle, the documents say, and a passenger shown in video footage of the incident allegedly resembles him.
Vaught-Barr and her boyfriend were arrested in Snohomish County on June 1, The News Tribune previously reported.
Police found the suspect vehicle abandoned in Federal Way on May 27.
What happened at the arraignment?
McInvaille entered a plea of not guilty on Vaught-Barr’s behalf and told her that, if she is released on bail, she is required to do weekly check-ins and forbidden from having any contact with Torres-Mesa.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Lisa Wagner said Vaught-Barr had not been truthful with law enforcement after the shooting.
“I think that the information that she gave law enforcement was for the purpose of protecting others and for the purpose of delaying and hindering their investigation,” Wagner said.
Jeffrey Kim, an attorney from Pierce County’s Department of Assigned Counsel, said Vaught-Barr “is unable to make any amount of bail.”
“She understands the seriousness of the allegations,” Kim said.
Her boyfriend had an outstanding arrest warrant in Multnomah County, Oregon, according to charging documents. The warrant was issued on May 26 for first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree burglary and first-degree aggravated theft.
McInvaille set bail for Vaught-Barr’s boyfriend at $250,000, then said he will go back to Oregon to face arraignment there. Once he faces arraignment in Oregon, he will come back to Washington state to face potential charges in the Parkland homicide.
The Shooting
Charging documents identify Vaught-Barr as the driver in the shooting, her boyfriend as the passenger, and Torres-Mesa as the shooter.
According to documents, Diaz’s girlfriend – who witnessed the shooting – told police the couple was walking north along the west side of Sheridan Avenue South when a “newer red 4-door sedan” passed them driving northbound.
“The red sedan pulled into a mechanic shop lot on the corner of 102nd Street South and Sheridan Avenue South, turned around, and then continued southbound on Sheridan Avenue South,” documents say. “The red sedan passed her and [Diaz] and slowed down.”
The person in the rear passenger seat, identified as Torres-Mesa, told Diaz to come closer, but he allegedly refused, his girlfriend told police. Torres-Mesa then told Vaught-Barr, who was driving the car, to back up so they could get closer to Diaz.
Torres-Mesa then allegedly demanded Diaz give him his gold necklace, his girlfriend told police. She said Diaz told her to stay back as he handed over the chain, and Torres-Mesa then shot the teenager “without provocation” and the bullet struck him in the abdomen.
“After the shot was fired, the vehicle then fled southbound on Sheridan Avenue South as she called 911,” the documents say.
Police received the call at about 7:13 p.m., documents say, and first responders tried to save Diaz’s life but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A postmortem examination said the gunshot wound to the abdomen “penetrated his liver, aorta and spinal cord,” the documents say.
The Investigation
Detectives canvassed the area and found video from a nearby business, the documents say. The video allegedly showed Diaz and his girlfriend walking north on Sheridan Avenue South from 108th Street South, then the red sedan fleeing south to 108th Street South from Sheridan Avenue South.
Detectives used the video to identify the suspect vehicle as a “newer model Toyota Corolla based on the body style, wheels, and light package.”
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office asked people to submit security video from the area, documents said, and police received several videos that showed more footage of the vehicle. The vehicle allegedly had scratches along the front driver’s door and “heavily tinted” windows that prevented them from seeing the people inside the vehicle.
Police later canvassed nearby neighborhoods and received additional camera footage from someone who lives in the 10400 block of 12th Avenue Court South, the documents say. The footage showed several people getting in and out of the car before the shooting. Detectives identified Vaught-Barr from the footage and confirmed it was the same car because of the scratches along the driver’s side.
On May 26, police interviewed her boyfriend’s mother, the documents said. His mother told police she recognized Vaught-Barr’s vehicle from security video released by PCSO and said the scratches were from Vaught-Barr getting into a minor collision.
“[She] stated that her son told her he was not involved in the shooting, but confirmed Vaught-Barr was the driver during the shooting,” the documents say.
Vaught-Barr’s boyfriend also allegedly told his mother the shooter was Torres-Mesa, the court documents said.
Detectives looked at photos of Vaught-Barr and Torres-Mesa from “open source social media, law enforcement contacts and department of licensing photographs,” the documents say. Vaught-Barr and Torres-Mesa matched the description of two people captured in the security videos.
On May 27, Diaz’s girlfriend did a follow-up interview with detectives, where they presented her with six photographs, including Torres-Mesa. His girlfriend allegedly chose the photograph of Torres-Mesa and said she was “85% sure” that was the man who shot Diaz.
The Car Discovery and The Arrest
Later that day, police found Vaught-Barr’s car abandoned in the 32700 block of 20th Way South in Federal Way, documents say. Police impounded the car and searched it, finding documents with Vaught-Barr and her boyfriend’s names on them.
“A live fully jacketed .40 caliber ammunition round was also found wedged between the front passenger seat and center console,” documents say.
Police obtained surveillance footage from a camera close to where they found the car in Federal Way, and it showed a person who looked like her boyfriend leaving the car. Her boyfriend allegedly “wip[ed] the outside of the rear passenger door with something,” then threw something into a grassy area.
Police searched the area and found a bag with two pieces of mail that had her boyfriend’s name on it, documents say.
Detectives later found historical data from Vaught-Barr and her boyfriend’s cell phones, which showed them being in the area of the shooting at the time of Diaz’s death. The device locations then showed them leaving the area after the shooting and traveling to the area where the suspect vehicle was found in Federal Way.
“The devices then returned to the area of S 38th St and Pacific Ave S, which is near Vaught-Barr’s residence,” documents say.
At 11:15 p.m. on May 27, police interviewed Vaught-Barr over the phone, according to the documents. Vaught-Barr confirmed she had been driving the vehicle during the homicide and said Torres-Mesa shot Diaz. She said she “was unaware of Torres-Mesa’s intentions” when she pulled over next to Diaz and his girlfriend.
Vaught-Barr said she watched as Torres-Mesa demanded Diaz give him his chain then shot him.
“She also claimed she attempted to exit the car to provide medical aid to [Diaz], stating that Torres-Mesa pulled her back into the car, struck her in the head with the firearm and made her drive him to Federal Way where she was ‘able to escape’ to an unknown park,” documents say. “Vaught-Barr claimed she was scared of Torres-Mesa, so she continued to drive him around until she separated from him somewhere in Federal Way.”
Vaught-Barr claimed her boyfriend was not in the car at the time of the shooting.
On June 1, Vaught-Barr and her boyfriend were arrested in Snohomish County, documents say. They were driving a white SUV, which detectives later searched.
According to the documents, police found a statement Vaught-Barr wrote, “as if she pre-wrote a guide on what she wanted to say during the previous phone interview.”
They found separate entries that appeared to detail Vaught-Barr’s and her boyfriend’s plans, which included “what we need, drivers Ls,” “what we looking for,” “spent smart,” “stack up for lawyer,” “put apt in someones name,” “find place to settle down” and “find good cheap lawyer.”
Police also found Vaught-Barr’s ID, a firearm and clothing that Vaught-Barr and her boyfriend had been seen wearing in surveillance videos. The couple had packed many bags of clothing, “in [a] manner consistent with moving/relocating.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 4:38 PM.
