Police: Play-fighting led to fatal shooting at Lake Stevens apartment

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, January 2, 2024

LAKE STEVENS — A Lake Stevens man admitted he shot and killed another man in an apartment after play-fighting early Sunday, according to a new police report.

Late Saturday, a man and woman were hanging out at the Creekside Alehouse & Grill in Lake Stevens. Joshua Kelly, who they knew from past interactions at the bar, joined them there, the report said. Kelly later reported he had a couple drinks, but not enough to make him intoxicated. He reported he had not slept in over a day.

When the bar closed at 2 a.m. Sunday, Kelly asked to go to the woman’s apartment with them because he hadn’t slept much, according to police.

At the apartment in the 1700 block of 16th Street NE, the three of them danced and sang karaoke, the woman later told police.

At one point, the man and woman, who were dating, went looking for her cat. The man was using a flashlight attached to his gun to look for the cat. Once they stopped looking, Kelly made fists and tried to “playfully” box with him, detectives wrote.

The man removed his handgun and set it on the kitchen counter. The two spent time talking about how hard they would hit each other, eventually agreeing to “10%,” according to the report.

Around 3:30 a.m., they both hit each other once in the stomach, then stopped, according to police. Kelly later told police the man’s punch was harder than expected and took the wind out of him. The man apologized and laughed before turning to walk to the living room.

The woman left the kitchen. She heard a loud bang, according to court documents. The man fell to the floor.

Kelly had picked up the gun, removed it from its holster and aimed with the intent of shining the attached flashlight on the man. Kelly reported he was startled when the gun went off.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was a flashlight,” Kelly reportedly said.

Kelly provided medical aid, but about 15 minutes later, the man was pronounced dead at the scene. He hadn’t been publicly identified Tuesday.

In a police interview, Kelly said he was trained on how to safely handle firearms. He felt he shouldn’t own one, because he knew he would get “trigger happy,” according to the report.

When detectives confronted Kelly about how they didn’t believe his story, the suspect admitted to knowing the flashlight was a gun the whole time. He denied wanting to hurt the man, only scare him, because Kelly was mad about how hard the punch was.

Lake Stevens police arrested Kelly for investigation of second-degree murder.

Kelly had no apparent criminal history.

In court Tuesday, Everett District Court Commissioner Tam Bui found probable cause for second-degree murder. She set bail at $250,000.

Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @snocojon.