Judge allows evidence of gang rivalry in Lynnwood double murder trial

Published 1:30 am Monday, June 22, 2026

EVERETT – Much of the evidence linking a deadly double shooting at a Lynnwood park to gang activity will be allowed during the murder trial of two men charged with the killings.

On Monday, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Joseph Wilson ruled there is a sufficient connection between the suspects’ gang affiliation and the deadly July 2022 shooting, following a three-day hearing arguing the relevance of the evidence earlier this month.

The decision comes as a jury trial looms for two of the three suspects accused of killing Jesus Sanchez Camunas Jr., 16, and Tidus Linville-Goodwin, 15, in a drive-by shooting at Spruce Park in Lynnwood on July 14, 2022.

“It’s not a random drive-by shooting, it was a targeted shooting, targeted to victims who identified themselves as members of an opposing gang,” Wilson said. “That’s fairly straightforward.”

Jose Beteran, Christian Chavez and Alexis Pacheco Monrroy were arrested and charged with two counts of murder in June 2023, nearly a year after the shooting.

Beteran, 31, and Chavez, 27, have pleaded not guilty to all charges and are still awaiting trial. Pacheco Monrroy, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in April, according to court documents.

Since the initial arrests, Lynnwood police investigators have linked the shootings to a string a violence between rival gangs in Snohomish County, including a shooting nearby the day before, according to charging papers from 2023.

Investigators said the suspects asked the teen victims what gang they represented. When Sanchez Camunas Jr. responded that he was in a rival gang, the men allegedly opened fire, witnesses told police.

Under Washington state law, before evidence of gang affiliation can be used against a person, prosecutors must first prove there is a connection between the crime someone is accused of and their gang background.

As a result, lawyers for both sides spent three days in early June arguing whether evidence connecting the two remaining suspects to previous gang activity should be admissible during a future jury trial.

“While certainly there is prejudice with regards to gang-related evidence, the probative value of membership here outweighs the prejudicial effect,” Snohomish County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jarett Goodkin told the judge.

Goodkin relied on testimony from Everett police Sgt. David Sinex, head of the department’s violent crimes unit, to link graffiti and a bandana found at the scene with the suspects alleged history of gang activity.

“My issue really is that those gang elements at Spruce Park don’t just simply open up the door to every other piece of gang evidence that the state wants to admit without proper analysis,” said Stephen Ritchie, defense representative for Chavez.

Over two days, Sinex detailed the complicated layout of gangs and their rivals in Snohomish County, as well as a history of interactions between police and both of the suspects.

He testified that both Chavez and Beteran were known members of a gang called WBP or “Doble,” a group that had been at odds with a gang called the Southside Locos.

Members of the gangs had allegedly opened fire on each other at least twice in the months leading up to the Spruce Park shooting, according to Sinex and court documents. Pacheco Monrroy was involved in shootings at Walter Hall Park in Everett and along 164th Street SW in Lynnwood, investigators said.

Defense attorneys argued there was no evidence of any of the suspects working together to commit gang-related crimes before.

“At every juncture you come back to Sgt. Sinex’s theory of the case, which is that even though there is no specific evidence with regard to these individual defendants, he believes their mere membership supplies the necessary bridge,” said James Koenig, one of the defense attorneys representing Beteran.

In his decision on Monday, Wilson opted to not allow evidence of the fight and shooting in Everett because of the risk it may prejudice the jury.

“The evidence here is an interpretation of the facts by the detective,” Wilson said. “Since the state can’t provide any direct testimony from any witnesses or other social media posts in regard to this particular instance, I am concerned about the conclusions that were reached by the detective in regards to this fight.”

The judge said he would allow evidence from the drive-by shooting on 164th Street in Lynnwood that occurred just one day before the two teens were killed. He said the State proved by a preponderance of evidence that the vehicle was connected to a rival gang and the victims were connected to WBP, as well as the suspects charged in this case.

“I think all of these factors together provide sufficient indication that these two gangs were at war and targeting each other, which then provides the nexus to the Spruce Park shooting,” Wilson said. ‘The fact of the matter is, Spruce Park was a gang shooting and it is best explained as retaliation for 164th Street.”

Investigators linked Beteran to an SUV that witnesses and video connected to the Spruce Park shooting scene, according to prosecutors.

“While there may be no direct evidence that the three of them worked together in relation to gang-related activity, there is always a first for everything,” Goodkin told the court on June 4.

Both suspects allegedly had gang nicknames within WBP, Chavez goes by “Goofy” and Beteran is known as “Smiley,” according to prosecutors.

Beteran previously pleaded guilty to shooting a fellow gang member in 2011 and has reportedly told police and jail officers of his gang involvement, prosecutors said. Chavez was known by Everett police for several graffiti incidents and had a public history of associating with members of the gang, Sinex said.

“There is evidence of gang activity at Spruce Park, so that opens the door for gang evidence to come in,” Wilson said.

The judge also ruled that Chavez and Beteran could be tried in a joint trial.

A jury trial for both suspects is on the calendar for early October and is expected to take six weeks, according to online court records.

Ian Davis-Leonard: 425-339-3097; ian.davis-leonard@heraldnet.com