Charges: Everett park stabbing was gang related

EVERETT — Prosecutors have charged two teens as adults in the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy last week at Lions Park.

Boys from Marysville and Tulalip, both 17, face charges of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and first-degree kidnapping in the near-fatal stabbing of the teen who was reportedly a rival gang member.

The teen knew the suspects from Lakewood High School. The Marysville teen is a member of the Norteño gang, according to the charges filed in Snohomish County Superior Court. The boy and the Marysville teen used to hang out, but stopped because of “gang stuff,” he later told investigators. The boy is a member of the Southside Locos, a subset of the Sureño gang.

The boy and the Tulalip teen didn’t get along because he believed the suspect had made fun of his sister. A few weeks before the stabbing, he confronted the Tulalip boy in the school bathroom to fight, but the suspect declined, according to the charges.

Before the stabbing, the boy had reportedly been communicating with a girl on Instagram and Snapchat.

On the night of Dec. 16, she picked him up at Country Burger near Lake Goodwin, according to court papers. He suggested they go to Lions Park, about 20 miles south.

After they made this plan, the girl started texting, according to court documents. He believed she was telling people they were going to the park. As they drove, he even told her he felt she might be setting him up. She knew the Marysville boy, he noted to police.

Around 12:35 a.m. Dec. 17, they got to the south Everett park. They planned to go for a walk and smoke cannabis together. But when he got out of the car, the suspects grabbed him from behind, prosecutors allege. They walked him into the forest. The girl drove away.

The suspects were wearing ski masks, but the teen immediately recognized them. They both had guns, according to the charges. They pistol-whipped him.

They then pinned him to the ground. The Marysville boy stabbed him, prosecutors allege. Both of the suspects reportedly stomped on him. The Marysville boy carved an “N” on his chest, for Norteños, according to the charges.

At one point, the teen from Marysville put a gun in the boy’s mouth, but later said he wouldn’t kill the teen. He just wanted to make the victim suffer, according to the charges.

The Tulalip teen reportedly told the boy “this is what you get for acting tough.”

Eventually, the suspects forced the teen to take off his clothes at gunpoint. They used the clothing to tie him to a tree. They took his shoes and other belongings, and “left him to die,” deputy prosecutor Melissa Samp wrote in the charges.

The alleged attack lasted about 20 minutes, according to court papers.

After he was sure they’d left, he reportedly untied himself. He went to the nearest home for help.

He was taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett for emergency surgery, then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He had at least eight penetrating stab wounds, according to court papers. A doctor opined the boy would’ve died within days or weeks if he didn’t get medical care.

Police arrested the Marysville teen the next day at his home. Inside, they found bullets and the boy’s shoes, according to the charges. In the garbage can outside, they found a bloodied sweatshirt and boxer shorts.

Investigators arrested the Tulalip boy the same day.

In his preliminary appearance in juvenile court, Judge Jon Scott set bail at $1 million for the Marysville boy and $300,000 for the Tulalip boy. The latter posted bail and was released.

Samp now wants the Tulalip teen’s bail raised to $750,000. He has no criminal history, court records show.

A month before the stabbing, the Marysville teen allegedly robbed people of their shoes and jewelry at gunpoint in Seattle. He was released from custody in that case on Dec. 2.

His public defender, Elaine Whaley, took issue with prosecutors charging him with the stabbing as an adult.

Her client “is presumed innocent, and despite being a child, is charged as an adult,” Whaley wrote in an email Wednesday. “Charging (him) as an adult ignores the science behind the positions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Washington Supreme Court: that children’s brains are not fully developed until their mid-to-late 20’s, so they should be treated differently than adults.”

State law allows an “automatic decline” that shifts cases from juvenile to adult Superior Court, due to the defendant’s age and the seriousness of the offense.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated where the wounded teen underwent emergency surgery.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.