Published: Friday, March 21, 2008
Second suspect jailed in Everett slaying
Mountlake Terrace suspect is second to be charged in killing
EVERETT -- Police said a murder suspect with a street name of "Kilo" was arrested in Everett on Wednesday night.
Everett police picked up Tsegazeab A. "Kilo" Zerahaimanot, 24, walking in north Everett about 10:30 p.m., Sgt. Robert Goetz said.
Zerahaimanot is charged in the Aug. 21 slaying of Forrest Starrett, 48, in south Everett. Another suspect, Steven Lavelle Lee, 25, was arrested Oct. 31. Snohomish County prosecutors have charged both suspects with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
Police believe early the morning of Aug. 21, Starrett was visiting a friend at an apartment on Holly Drive.
Zerahaimanot, of Mountlake Terrace, and Lee, of Everett, were at the apartment. A number of people there had been drinking and using drugs, according to court documents.
The person who rented the place wanted Zerahaimanot and Lee to leave, according to charging documents.
They didn't. For some reason, the two men became suspicious of Starrett and thought he was a police officer, the documents said.
The men "confronted (Starrett) in the kitchen, yelling at him and holding him there with guns to his head, the contents of his pockets emptied onto the table," witnesses told detectives.
Prosecutors say Starrett was hustled outside and ordered into the passenger side of his truck, guns still pointed at his head, documents said.
A witness told police that Starrett grabbed at Zerahaimanot's gun. A shot was fired and Starrett was wounded.
Zerahaimanot ran to a car in the parking lot while Lee stayed behind and delivered a fatal shot at close range, prosecutors alleged.
Starrett, of Marysville, worked as a plumber and mechanic at Boeing.
Zerahaimanot was booked early Thursday morning into the Snohomish County Jail on a $1 million arrest warrant, Goetz said. Lee remains jailed awaiting trial.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
Everett police picked up Tsegazeab A. "Kilo" Zerahaimanot, 24, walking in north Everett about 10:30 p.m., Sgt. Robert Goetz said.
Zerahaimanot is charged in the Aug. 21 slaying of Forrest Starrett, 48, in south Everett. Another suspect, Steven Lavelle Lee, 25, was arrested Oct. 31. Snohomish County prosecutors have charged both suspects with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
Police believe early the morning of Aug. 21, Starrett was visiting a friend at an apartment on Holly Drive.
Zerahaimanot, of Mountlake Terrace, and Lee, of Everett, were at the apartment. A number of people there had been drinking and using drugs, according to court documents.
The person who rented the place wanted Zerahaimanot and Lee to leave, according to charging documents.
They didn't. For some reason, the two men became suspicious of Starrett and thought he was a police officer, the documents said.
The men "confronted (Starrett) in the kitchen, yelling at him and holding him there with guns to his head, the contents of his pockets emptied onto the table," witnesses told detectives.
Prosecutors say Starrett was hustled outside and ordered into the passenger side of his truck, guns still pointed at his head, documents said.
A witness told police that Starrett grabbed at Zerahaimanot's gun. A shot was fired and Starrett was wounded.
Zerahaimanot ran to a car in the parking lot while Lee stayed behind and delivered a fatal shot at close range, prosecutors alleged.
Starrett, of Marysville, worked as a plumber and mechanic at Boeing.
Zerahaimanot was booked early Thursday morning into the Snohomish County Jail on a $1 million arrest warrant, Goetz said. Lee remains jailed awaiting trial.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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