Tuesday,

August 1, 2000

Sixth person arrested in Everett gun battle

Youth allegedly fired handgun during fight

By SCOTT NORTH

Herald Writer

Another young Snohomish County man has been jailed in connection with a deadly May 30 melee that ended with the shooting deaths of two Everett-area teens.

Jesse Louis Sorensen, 18, was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 bail Tuesday during a brief hearing in Everett District Court. He was arrested late Monday for investigation of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Sorensen is suspected of grabbing and firing a handgun during a planned fistfight that escalated into a gun battle, said Jim Townsend, the county's chief criminal deputy prosecutor. Sorensen has a prior felony burglary conviction as a juvenile and is barred from possessing firearms, he said.

Sorensen's arrest brings to six the number of people now in some sort of legal jeopardy in the wake of the shooting. He was among a group of young men who showed up in support of a 16-year-old south Snohomish County youth who had planned a fistfight with Dennis Cramm, 17. The fight reportedly was watched by a few dozen young people and as many as 10 adults, including, Dale Cramm, 44, Dennis Cramm's father.

Some of those present had firearms, and the fight somehow escalated into a gunbattle.

Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner, both 18, were killed when the car they were trying to leave the fracas in was raked by bullets fired from an SKS semiautomatic rifle.

Prosecutors allege Dennis Cramm fired the shots. He is now charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Dale Cramm is charged with three drug-related felonies plus charges of tampering with witnesses and evidence. Prosecutors have repeatedly said they are investigating possible murder charges against the elder Cramm.

A former housemate of the Cramms, Christopher W. Dinsmore, 20, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly helping set the stage for the May 30 violence.

John Michael Jauregui, 24, another former housemate of the Cramms, has admitted firing a rifle that night. He's cooperating with investigators, but still faces a felony riot charge after alleging that he traded gunfire with Anthony Bovan, 21, another fight witness, court papers show. Bovan, who has felony convictions for property crimes, is facing a weapons charge for allegedly snatching up guns at the scene and opening fire.

All the defendants have pleaded innocent.