MARYSVILLE — A 20-year-old man allegedly told police he didn’t have a reason for shooting an AR-15 from his aunt’s vehicle. He also claimed he didn’t notice the homes that were nearby when he opened fire.
“The defendant has a complete disregard for public safety and is willing to endanger others to satisfy his own need for entertainment,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Elise Deschenes wrote in charging papers.
She charged Hayden Cepa with two counts of drive-by shooting. The Marysville man isn’t the only one facing legal troubles for the April incidents.
His aunt, Carolyn Cepa, also has been charged with drive-by shooting. Prosecutors allege the Marysville mom, 39, was behind the wheel when her nephew squeezed off several rounds in neighborhoods in Arlington and Marysville.
The pair now is scheduled to go to trial in October. Hayden Cepa remains jailed on $50,000 bail. Prosecutors did not request bail for his aunt. She remains out of custody pending trial.
No one was hurt in the early morning incidents.
Multiple people called 911 on April 22 to report gunfire along 140th Place NE in Marysville. The area is residential with homes on both sides of the roadway.
Arlington police also had received reports of gunfire about four miles away in the 18500 block of Smokey Point Boulevard.
A Marysville man reported capturing the shooting on his home security system. He told dispatchers the video showed shots coming from the passenger window of a lowered white Chevy Tahoe, Deschenes wrote.
Police located four .223-caliber spent shells in the road in front of a house on 140th Place NE and one spent shell in the driveway.
A detective reviewed the home surveillance footage. The video first showed the Tahoe eastbound on 140th Place NE. The driver then turned around and shut off the headlights. The detective saw five shots coming from the vehicle. He could see flashes in the area next to the passenger side door. Police were able to get a license plate number from the video, Deschenes said.
The vehicle was registered to Carolyn Cepa, who lives less than two miles from the crime scene, according to court records.
Police, including a SWAT team, waited until Cepa dropped off her young son at school before stopping her and searching her home.
She allegedly told police that she was driving when her nephew, who had been drinking, fired off several rounds. Police found Hayden Cepa at the woman’s house.
He allegedly told police that his aunt was driving “but he couldn’t remember where he fired his AR-15 rifle,” Deschenes wrote. He told police he didn’t know it was illegal to shoot from a moving vehicle.
“He admitted he screwed up and apologized for this actions,” the deputy prosecutor wrote.
Police searched the house, locating the AR-15 and two more rifles in Hayden Cepa’s bedroom. They also allegedly found a pound of marijuana, according to court papers.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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