Local News: Thursday, June 01, 2000
Police arrest youth in double killing
Herald news services
EVERETT -- A 17-year-old youth turned himself in today in the fatal shooting of two other teen-agers after an organized fist fight, the Snohomish County Sheriff's department said.
Jesse Stoner and Jason Thompson, both 18, were killed Tuesday night as the car they were riding in pulled away from the south Everett-area house where the fight had taken place.
The 17-year-old, accompanied by his lawyer, turned himself in at the county courthouse, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said.
"The sheriff's office is confident that it has the individual who fired the fatal rounds," Jorgensen said.
The youth was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of two counts of second-degree murder, Jorgensen said.
She said the youth was a resident at the house where the fight took place. Investigators recovered an assault rifle believed to have been used in the slayings, as well as numerous shell casings and a small quantity of illegal drugs, she said.
The youth's name was not released, and a motive for the slayings was still not known, she said.
"We don't have any indication that it was racially motivated or gang-related," said Jorgensen, who added the investigation continued.
On Wednesday, investigators confiscated more than 20 guns from the house where the fist fight took place, Sheriff Rick Bart said.
Thompson, who played varsity football, attended Aces Alternative High School. Stoner had dropped out of Mariner High School in March.
Stunned friends of the well-liked teens set up an impromptu memorial at a parking lot near the Cost Cutter Foods store where a friend of the youths called 911 after they were mortally wounded.
The friend, Chris Gulsvig, was driving the car the night of the shootings. Stoner and Thompson rode in the back seat with Thompson's girlfriend, Tyffannie Trunnell. In the front seat rode a teen-age boy whose name was not released.
Gulsvig said he and his friends had gone to support a black youth who had had a previous conflict and arranged the fight with a white youth. The fight took place at the white youth's home.
About three dozen spectators showed up, with about 10 middle-aged men among those backing the white teen. Gulsvig said the men -- including the white teen's father -- kept their hands behind their backs and made some racist remarks.
"At one point, (the teen's father) said if anybody jumped in, they would start blasting," Gulsvig said.
The fight lasted about 10 minutes and was won by the white teen. But it was not until the visitors left at about 8 p.m. that the shooting began, Gulsvig said.
About a half-dozen bullets shattered the back window of Gulsvig's car -- the last vehicle to leave the house. Stoner and Thompson died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso.
"Jesse and Jason had nothing to do with it. It was a mistake," said their friend, Brandon Harbaugh. Neither youth took part in the fight.
