EVERETT — A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted two men in a home invasion just outside Everett that left Irah Sok killed in 2022.
The two men, Kevin Thissel and Christopher Johnson, were accused of robberies and kidnappings between Kent and Mount Vernon between March and December 2022, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The grand jury indicted them on racketeering and conspiracy to to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as RICO.
They are expected to be charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with first-degree and second-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, firearm theft and unlawful firearm possession.
The 12-page federal indictment provides few details about Sok’s fatal shooting that detectives had been mum about for almost exactly two years.
Around 3 a.m. Aug. 19, 2022, three armed suspects kicked in the front door of Sok’s home in the 2600 block of 96th Street SE, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. They went up to the second floor and into the bedroom where Sok and her husband were sleeping. One shot her as her child, 7, was next to her. The suspects zip-tied her husband on the floor.
The suspects ransacked the house and stole thousands of dollars worth of belongings, according to the sheriff’s office.
The trio fled. Sok’s husband ran to the house of a neighbor, who called 911.
Sok was 36. She owned a photo studio in Mill Creek.
Detectives were still looking for the third suspect. Anyone with information can contact the sheriff’s office tipline at 425-388-3845,
According to the indictment, Thissel, 28, and Johnson, 23, would target Asian American families and commit robberies between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. They would kick in doors and windows while also disabling security cameras.
“The indictment alleges that in the summer of 2022, these men targeted certain families for robberies. To create a climate of fear, these men burst into their homes in the middle of the night, dressed in black, claiming to be police, and with guns drawn,” U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said. “The primary motive for this robbery crew was money – stealing any valuables they could ransack from these homes. Tragically, they shot and killed one young mother as her 7-year-old child lay next to her in bed. This indictment seeks to hold them accountable for the terror they visited on our community.”
In one case, they were accused of kidnapping a woman and forcing her at gunpoint to go to ATMs to withdraw money.
Johnson was in Snohomish County custody serving a sentence on domestic violence charges at the time of the indictment. He was transferred to federal custody Thursday morning.
Thissel was awaiting trial in Pierce County on first-degree assault charges related to another shooting, according to federal prosecutors. In April, police found him in Long Beach, Pacific County, after shooting a boxer multiple times at an event in Tacoma, according to KOMO.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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