EVERETT — An Everett man was sentenced to time served Friday for stealing a police gun during racial justice protests in Seattle in 2020.
Jacob Little, now 26, also faces murder charges in connection with a fatal Renton shooting months after the gun theft.
In the days after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, mass protests hit downtown Seattle. In the afternoon of May 30, a few of the thousands of protesters destroyed five Seattle police cars. From one, Jacob Little reached through a broken window and grabbed a rifle bag with an M4 rifle, surveillance video reportedly showed.
Security footage showed Little walking away from the police car carrying the big rifle bag, federal prosecutors alleged. On Snapchat, Little also posted a video showing him smashing the front window of a police car.
The next day, he tried to sell the stolen rifle and its suppressor, according to court documents.
“I took off the red dot and the flashlight and the sling, so I’ll let it go for 9,” he reportedly wrote. “Suppressor still on it.”
After reviewing the video footage and receiving tips, authorities identified Little as the man who stole the rifle bag. In July, they searched his home and phone. Law enforcement found multiple guns in the bedroom and a loaded Glock in his car, according to court papers. But they didn’t find the police rifle, its suppressor or the bag.
Jacob D. Little
Little had sold the gun to an acquaintance with mental health issues, who buried it on private property in Marysville, agents learned. The buyer dug up the rifle after threatening his girlfriend, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Authorities eventually recovered the gun.
In court papers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Crisham wrote Little was “one of a relatively small number of people who hijacked the otherwise lawful protests on May 30 and helped to create a scene of chaotic civil disorder.”
In September 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Little for possession of a stolen firearm in U.S. District Court in Seattle. In October of last year, Little pleaded guilty.
In a plea agreement, both prosecutors and the defense pushed for a sentence of time served, since Little has already been in custody for over 1⅓ years.
Judge Richard Jones followed the recommendation, sentencing him to 1⅓ years.
Little now faces a second-degree murder charge in King County Superior Court, accused of killing a man after a fight broke out in a Renton parking lot in August 2020. The defendant hopes the time he has already served in custody on the stolen gun charge beyond 1⅓ years could go toward his prison sentence on the slaying, if convicted.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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