Jury convicts Edmonds man in fatal shooting of rideshare driver
Published 12:58 pm Wednesday, July 16, 2025
EVERETT — A jury found an Edmonds man accused of fatally shooting a rideshare driver in 2024 guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday.
The 12-person jury took three hours to reach its verdict against 22-year-old Alex Waggoner. Wednesday was the third day of the trial before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent.
The jury also affirmed a special verdict that Waggoner was armed with a firearm at the time of the incident. His sentencing is set for 1 p.m. Sept. 27.
Around 10:15 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2024, Abdulkadir Shariif, 31, was driving near the intersection of Edmonds Way and 236th Street Southwest. He made a left turn and almost struck Waggoner, who was in the crosswalk, dashcam footage showed. Footage showed Shariif slowed and rolled down the window to apologize.
Waggoner immediately fired 11 shots at Shariif, who died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to an autopsy report. Detectives later found 11 shell casings at the scene and determined nine bullets hit Shariif’s car.
Waggoner fled from the scene. Police arrested him one week later.
In a police interview, Waggoner admitted to fatally shooting Shariif. Waggoner said he had been drinking alcohol and was walking to Safeway to buy more. At the time, he said he was “scared” when the car nearly hit him, but he “grossly overreacted” and was sorry for what he did, according to court documents.
In closing arguments Wednesday, the defense argued Waggoner was acting in self-defense because he believed Shariif was trying to hit him with his car. He also thought Shariif’s cell phone was a gun, defense attorney Jeffrey Wolfenbarger said. Waggoner didn’t have all the information at the time to determine if he was in immediate danger, Wolfenbarger said.
“When determining whether Alex acted in self-defense, you must set all that information aside,” he said. “All the information that Alex did not have.”
Much of the discussion revolved around one of the jury’s instructions, which states a person can legally act in self-defense if they believe in “good faith and on reasonable grounds” they are in danger, although “afterwards it might develop that the person was mistaken as to the extent of the danger.”
Prosecutors argued Waggoner was not acting in self-defense because his response was not on “reasonable grounds.”
“Mr. Shariif made a mistake,” deputy prosecuting attorney Wallace Langbehn said. “He was trying to apologize, a reasonable person would know that’s what’s happening. Not ‘Oh my god, this person is stopping, they must be trying to kill me.’ Is that a reasonable conclusion based on everything that was happening?”
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
