Man sentenced to 9 years for carjacking

Published 10:58 pm Monday, January 11, 2010

EVERETT — A man convicted of taking part in a carjacking outside an Everett grocery story in 2008 was sentenced Monday to more than nine years in prison.

A jury last year found Camino Gahagan, 20, guilty of first-degree attempted robbery and second-degree assault with a firearm. He later pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment in connection with the Dec. 29, 2008, incident.

Investigators believe Gahagan and codefendant Robert Koppel hid in the back seat of a woman’s car while she and her friends went inside a grocery store on Everett Mall Way.

When the woman slid into the driver’s seat, Koppel put a gun to her head, demanded money and forced her to drive. The woman told investigators that Gahagan told Koppel to shoot her after he counted to three, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson wrote in court papers. When Gahagan finished counting, Koppel fired a .45-caliber gun next to the woman’s head. The round struck the windshield.

The police quickly arrested the suspects, thanks to the help of a United Parcel Service driver, who followed the car after hearing two people inside the store yelling for help.

Police believe the boyfriend of the woman’s friend was the intended target.

Koppel was sentenced in September to nine years in prison.