Teen shot, robbed man at meet-up to sell video game console in Tacoma, charges say

TACOMA, Wash. — Pierce County prosecutors say a 17-year-old boy arranged last month to meet with two people in a South End neighborhood to sell them a PlayStation video game console. Instead of making the sale, he robbed the buyers and shot one in the stomach.

The boy was charged as an adult Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree robbery and two counts of first-degree assault.

He was to be arraigned Thursday afternoon.

The robbery and shooting occurred Feb. 18 in the 3300 block of Cushman Avenue outside an apartment complex overlooking Interstate 5. In charging documents, prosecutors said the teenager told the 39-year-old buyer and his girlfriend to meet him there. When the 39-year-old man greeted him, the teen pulled a gun and told him to hand over all his money.

The man ran, but the alleged robber soon caught up with him and demanded his wallet. He handed it over, and the teen shot him and ran off, prosecutors allege.

Tacoma Police Department detectives used screenshots of the sale provided by the victims to track the seller’s account back to the teenager, according to charging documents. A photo montage was created, and the gunshot victim identified the boy as the person who shot him. The other victim and a witness were less certain, but both pointed to a photo of the teenager to identify the culprit.

Detectives arrested the teenager without incident March 4 in Tacoma. He was booked into Remann Hall, Pierce County’s juvenile detention center.

Charging documents gave this account:

Tacoma Police Department officers responded about 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 18 to the 3300 block of Cushman Avenue for a report of a man shot in a robbery. When officers arrived, they found a man on the ground surrounded by people trying to help.

Police soon learned the 39-year-old gunshot victim had driven to the area with his girlfriend to purchase a PlayStation from someone they had met online.

According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, the seller, later identified as the teenager, told the two to meet him at his aunt’s apartment, providing them an address on Cushman and an apartment number. Further investigation later found that boy had no connection to the building.

The victims told police that while they sat in their car, the teenager approached on foot with a backpack. The 39-year-old man got out and introduced himself. The teen took off his backpack and gestured to the apartment.

According to the charging document, that’s when the boy pulled a gun on the man. “Give me all your [expletive] money,” the teenager allegedly told him.

The 39-year-old man told boy he didn’t have any money because he planned on testing the PlayStation before buying. The man started to run, and the teen told the man to stop or he would shoot him, according to the probable cause document.

While this was happening, the buyer’s girlfriend was screaming in the car. She threatened to call the police. The teenager went to the passenger window and pointed his gun a few feet from her head. “Tell him to give me the money or I will pop a cap in your [expletive],” he allegedly told her. She continued to scream.

The woman told police that at that point, the boy ran after her boyfriend and caught up with him. She said she saw him point a gun at her boyfriend’s stomach, then heard a gunshot. The 39-year-old fell to the ground, and the shooter ran off.

The 39-year-old man later told detectives the teenager had demanded his wallet from him, which he handed over. According to the probable cause document, the boy took the wallet with one hand and fired the gun he was holding in his other.

The man was taken to Tacoma General Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. The bullet went through his bladder and intestines, and when police spoke with him a week later, he had a colostomy bag.

While police were still on the scene, a bystander approached and told officers that he was also there to purchase a PlayStation from someone he met online. Detectives determined both sales were connected to the teenager.

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