A teenager accused of fatally shooting a 16-year-old boy last week in Lakewood in what was initially reported as an accident now faces murder charges.
David Raul Maldonado was charged Monday in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm the shooting inside a home near American Lake. The victim has not yet been publicly identified.
At arraignment Monday afternoon, Judge Edmund Murphy set bail at $500,000. Deputy prosecuting attorney Afton Gregson requested it be set at $1 million, telling the court that Maldonado is a suspect in an armed robbery that occurred two hours before the shooting, and that the gun used the fatal shooting it has yet to be recovered. She said the robbery is still being investigated.
Maldonado turned himself in the day after the shooting. Prosecutors said he does not have any criminal history.
The News Tribune typically does not name people under the age of 18 who are charged with a crime, but it is doing so in this case because the defendant has been charged as an adult under state law.
According to charging documents, the victim's mother told Lakewood Police Department officers that her son was with three friends in their living room when the shooting occurred. Records state a witness told police Maldonado initially racked a handgun he was holding, pointed it at the victim and pulled the trigger, but it didn't fire. The witness reportedly told him to be careful in case there was a bullet in the gun's chamber, but the defendant did it again and the gun fired.
The bullet struck the boy in the left side of the chest and exited his right shoulder blade, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. West Pierce Fire & Rescue personnel responded and transported the boy to Madigan Army Medical Hospital, where he later died. Doctors reportedly found two holes in the victim's heart.
During arraignment, about 15 friends and relatives stood in support of Maldonado in the gallery while defense attorney Bryan Hershman argued for him to be released on his personal recognizance with conditions. Hershman said the hearing was the first he'd heard that Maldonado was a suspect in a robbery, and he denied the allegation. The attorney said Maldonado is devastated by what had happened and had been agonizing over his actions, calling the incident a terrible mistake.
"The only problem with today's hearing is that my client is such a wonderful young man — he's the sort of young man that I submit we would all want as a son — and that heightens the tragedy," Hershmann said.
Maldonado is a student at Clover Park High School, where he plays both varsity football and baseball, according to Hershmann. He said the defendant has regularly attended Bible study for years. The attorney told the court that Maldonado's mother knows the family of the victim, and he read a text exchange between the mothers in which Maldonado's mother apologized for what had happened, and the victim's mother thanked her and asked her to tell Maldonado she still loved him.
Lakewood police said officers initially were told the shooting was accidental. Lt. Jeremy Prater said police went to investigate, and evidence showed it was a homicide. According to the probable cause document, the first 911 caller reported that their son was accidentally shot in the living room. Another 911 caller, the victim's mother, reportedly said she was upstairs when she heard the gunshot.
In interviews with police, the mother and someone she was with said they rushed downstairs and found the victim on the floor, according to the probable cause document. They said they didn't know who shot the victim or where the firearm was. The mother reportedly said one of her son's friends was performing CPR on him when they came downstairs, and the other boys had run off.
Prosecutors said the gun used in the shooting has yet to be recovered, but they noted in charging documents that police found what looked to be the lower half of a Glock pistol on a stuffed animal on top of a laundry basket near an exit door. Records state the gun had a magazine in it with live ammunition.
A 9 mm shell casing was reportedly found behind the spot where the witness said Maldonado had been sitting, and detectives found a backpack at the home with the defendant's schoolwork inside.
Detectives later interviewed the witness who performed CPR on the victim, and he described how the shooting occurred, records state. Surveillance video showed two people fleeing the residence, and the witness reportedly identified Maldonado as one of them and confirmed he was the shooter.
