Pair charged in fatal Everett shooting
Published 11:48 pm Friday, November 30, 2007
Two men were charged Friday with second-degree murder in a 2006 south Everett shooting death that authorities say was gang related.
Jermaine Joseph Lewis, 19, of Auburn and Claude A. Hutchinson, 21, of Seattle both are being held in the Snohomish County Jail.
The two are scheduled to appear in court Monday in the Aug. 5, 2006, shooting death of Dennis Riojas, 19, of Everett.
According to court documents and police, the shooting happened after a gang-related dispute between young men at an outdoor basketball court in south Everett the week before Riojas’ death.
The dispute escalated first into drive-by gunfire in which nobody was injured, and then a series threatening telephone calls, documents said.
It ended when Riojas arrived home to find several people waiting for him. He jumped out of a car and tried to scale a fence and a gunshot rang out, documents said.
His body was found later about 160 feet from the fence, according to charging papers filed by deputy prosecutor John Stansell. Riojas’ body was found in a planting area behind an apartment building in the 700 block of 124th Street SW.
Court documents accuse Lewis of shooting Riojas. He’s being held on $250,000 bail. Hutchinson allegedly supplied a pistol, making him an accomplice, Stansell said. Hutchinson’s bail is $150,000.
