‘He was a goofball’: Family speaks out as Seattle police identify murder suspect

Seattle — Nearly a year later, Seattle police are searching for a murder suspect accused of shooting and killing a man at his Pioneer Square Apartment.

Adam Layton Jr. or ‘AJ’, 29, was shot and killed inside the OK Apartments on May 23, 2023. They say he was living there.

“She said AJ was killed this morning,” Layton’s aunt Mandy McBean said. “He was shot. We don’t know anything else. He was found by some runner or something.”

It was a phone call McBean will never forget.

Court documents reveal Layton was shot several times on the second floor of the complex after an argument.

Layton tried to get away, but his body was found in front of the building on Alaskan Way.

“My heart was aching, because I knew that I’d never hear his voice again,” she said. “Or, you know, he hugged always around my neck. Like he would hug me really tight. And he and I were close.”

McBean told KIRO 7 they have a tight-knit family and that he’d be there for anyone.

Nine months later, she doesn’t understand why someone would want to take his life away.

“He was a goofball,” she said. “I mean, he always made everybody laugh.”

“He would give the shirt off his back,” she said. “I mean, as soon as he walked in, he was the life of the party.”

Seattle Police are searching for this man, 46-year-old Miguel Bravo Mejia.

Bravo Mejia is wanted for 2nd-degree murder for allegedly firing several shots from a high-power pneumatic air rifle. Court documents show he had four prior assault convictions.

Especially with his past criminal history, McBean hopes he’s caught in time so no one else gets hurt.

“I mean, even if he went to jail for the rest of his life, you can do good things while you’re in jail or in prison, or, you know, but for him to turn himself in,” McBean said. “I mean, it’s scary to know that he’s out there. What if he does it to somebody else?”

Anyone with information about Mejia should contact SPD Violent Crimes Tip Line at (206) 233-5000, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-Tips.

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