Teen killed at Halloween party near Mill Creek

Published 2:57 pm Monday, November 19, 2007

MILL CREEK

A Kirkland teen was fatally shot early Sunday, Oct. 28 after a Halloween party near Mill Creek erupted into brawling in the street.

The shooting occurred at 12:50 a.m. outside a home in the 3500 block of 164th Street SE, said Dave Bales, bureau chief for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

“Detectives have a lot of sorting out to do,” he said. “There were a lot of witnesses. It was a pretty good-sized party.”

Witnesses identified the victim as Christopher Chandler, 18, and said he was a student at Lake Washington Technical College. He died at the scene, Bales said.

An Ellensburg man, 22, was arrested for investigation of second-degree murder and booked into the Snohomish County Jail.

Witnesses directed deputies to the suspect, who was taken into custody at the party’s location, Bales said.

Party-goers said the gathering was breaking up when several fights started among those who had attended. The people living in the house invited different groups of friends, and it was unclear whether the suspect and the victim knew each other before, Bales said.

During the fighting, somebody fired a single shot, striking the victim, Bales said.

Witnesses told deputies that the slain teen and the man had some sort of dispute earlier in the evening, Bales said.

According to a police report filed Monday in Everett District Court, witnesses said Chandler apparently was struggling with the gunman before the fatal shot was fired,

Witnesses told police Chandler was leaving the party just before 1 a.m. Chandler drove up on a fight and got out of his car, court documents said. One man had a handgun. Chandler wrestled with the man and blows were exchanged. The man with the gun was knocked down and fired a shot as he fell to the ground, the documents said.

Detectives with the sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit spent much of the day searching for evidence and interviewing witnesses. A large-caliber handgun was recovered. For several hours, 164th Street was blocked off while detectives investigated the scene.

In the afternoon, the yellow crime scene tape was removed and Chandler’s friends were allowed to lay flowers near the spot where he died. In the middle of the makeshift shrine was a picture of the clean-cut young man in a blue-and-white plaid shirt. Friends said he wanted to become an electrical engineer.

The gathering was breaking up when fights broke out in the street, Bales said. Exactly what caused the shooting remains under investigation, he added.

Many of the party-goers wore Halloween costumes.

News of the shooting rattled some who live in the neighborhood, which includes many new homes.

“Very quiet” is how Raya Vo described her neighborhood of more than two years. Vo was walking her dog, Cosmo, early Sunday morning when she was stopped by the police tape.

When Kathy Dawson, who lives a few blocks away, saw police cars and TV camera crews, she thought there could have been a car accident or even a protest over all the new homes going in.

“That would have been more likely than a homicide,” she said.

Robert Boreson was less surprised. He has lived in the general area for more than 17 years.

He brought his son, Jared, 17, to the scene to remind him of the dangers that can occur at a party gone awry.

“It just brought it home that life is short and there are some bad people out there,” Robert Boreson said. “I wish people would look at the preciousness of life.”

The area of the shooting was just east of Mill Creek city limits. Boreson believes it might be time for neighbors to band together and look after one another.

“I’m looking at starting a block watch now,” he said.