EVERETT — A week after Guillermo Padilla turned 16, he handed another teenager a loaded .22-caliber gun, knowing that his friend was out for blood.
Minutes later Anthony Camacho, 17, was on the ground, dying from a gunshot wound to the head. His buddies loaded him into a car and dropped him off at a local hospital. He died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
A couple of days later Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives arrested Padilla and two other teens, including the suspected shooter, Diego Tavares, 19. Detectives say the Dec. 12 killing was motivated by a gang rivalry that has led to bloodshed in the past.
Padilla on Thursday pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He is being prosecuted as an adult because of the serious nature of the crime. The Everett teen faces up to 18 years in prison when he’s sentenced in July. Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson is expected to recommend a 12-year prison sentence.
The other two defendants, both charged with first-degree murder, are scheduled to go to trial in June.
“The murder was apparently part of the ongoing violence between various gangs in south Everett,” Matheson wrote in charging papers.
Tavares allegedly was “amped up” when he told Padilla and Edgar Calixto, also 16, that rival gang members shot at him the previous day. He said he wanted revenge, the boys told police.
Tavares saw on Facebook that the other gang was having a party Dec. 11. He allegedly arranged to meet up with Padilla and Calixto. Tavares and the other boys were driving around south Everett early Dec. 12. Calixto parked after Tavares allegedly said he saw some of the guys that shot at him standing on a back patio in the 12000 block of Fourth Place W.
Padilla told detectives Tavares asked for a weapon and he passed him a .22-caliber handgun. Padilla said he knew something bad was going to happen. Tavares hopped out of the car. The other teens remained behind and reported hearing gunshots. Tavares ran back to the car and yelled at Calixto to drive. He handed the gun back to Padilla, court papers said.
Padilla later gave the handgun to an acquittance. He and Calixto told police they were both armed with other guns at the time of the shooting. Detectives seized guns when the boys were arrested at their homes.
Padilla bragged about the shooting on Facebook. He also made an overt threat to shoot up the house of a witness, court papers said.
Padilla changed his online profile name to “Triggerz Padilla” after the homicide.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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