EVERETT, Wash. — There are stunning new details in the murder of an Everett teenager while he waited for a school bus last Friday morning.
Prosecutors say rival gang members threatened to kill the victim for several days before he was gunned down.
There are more troubling details.
Court documents reveal they were bitter enemies. The suspect was shot six months ago. The victim was targeted last Wednesday.
Their rivalry ended Friday morning when the 15-year-old boy was shot dead as he waited to board a bus for school.
Children getting off the school bus are met with a memorial for one of their neighbors at the WestRidge Estates mobile home park.
Uriel Hernandez-Martinez, 20, known as the rival gang’s “Big Homie,” or leader, is the man Everett police say murdered the teen as part of a long-running feud between gangs.
Investigators say Hernandez-Martinez admitted to others that he and another gang member pulled the trigger. His public defender attorney argued that is not evidence enough to hold him for first-degree murder. The prosecution vigorously argued that it is.
“Even if the court doesn’t find — and this is not a trial yet — Mr. Hernandez-Martinez was the person that pulled the trigger, he, at very least, is an accomplice,” insisted Adam Sturdivant, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor. “He provided the gas that put the car at the bus stop. Not to mention the fact that he was found with a loaded firearm at the time of his arrest.”
According to court documents, Hernandez-Martinez was shot last March. Members of the victim’s gang were responsible.
Then last Wednesday, Tamayo — we know him officially by only his last name — was shot at along 112th Street Southwest, some two miles from his home.
The next day, three rival gang members were arrested.
A day after that, Tamayo was shot and killed as he waited for the school bus.
At Monday’s hearing, bail for the man suspected of killing him was raised from $1 million to $5 million.
“Mr. Hernandez-Martinez,” said Snohomish County District Court Commissioner Jennifer Millett, “I do find under 3.2 (Local Snohomish County Court rules), there is a likely danger that you will interfere with the administration of justice.”
The murder is still causing a lot of pain.
Investigators say Hernandez-Martinez admitted to police he was in the car. But he said another gang member actually did the shooting.
But so far, he is the only person who has been arrested for the murder.
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