MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A Seattle man’s ex-girlfriend had already accused him multiple times of assaulting her and her toddler before he shot at them in their Mountlake Terrace apartment, according to charges filed Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
The man, 22, was charged with two counts of first-degree assault, as well as one count each of reckless endangerment, malicious mischief and violating a protection order. Prosecutors allege he has shown a “complete disregard” for the safety of his former partner and her 2-year-old daughter.
In January, a Snohomish County South District Court judge issued a no-contact order for the woman, 22, against the man, according to charging documents. The restraining order was to last two years.
But around 8:30 p.m. May 29, the defendant showed up to the woman’s apartment in the 5400 block of 212th Street SW, the charges say. Armed with a handgun, he banged on the door so loudly a neighbor reported hearing someone try to break down a door.
The woman looked through the peephole and saw the man wearing a white puffer jacket and red pants, she later told deputies. When she told him to leave, the man fired multiple shots through the front door and “narrowly missed” her, charges say. Her daughter was standing next to her. The man fled.
Officers found him running on the ex-girlfriend’s street and going into a ravine, charges say. He was later seen by other officers along I-5 trying to wave vehicles down. Each time officers spotted him, they gave him verbal commands to stop running, to which he ignored.
Officers eventually detained him near Pinnacle Roofing in Lynnwood, about half a mile from the woman’s apartment, now wearing only socks and boxers, according to charges.
The next day, investigators found a Glock 17 and a “coyote tan” gun magazine at a construction site near the woman’s apartment complex, charges say. The weapons were buried in ivy, suggesting the defendant purposely hid them there, investigators say. His puffer jacket and pants were also nearby.
Investigators later learned of two previous instances of the man allegedly assaulting the woman.
In June 2023, the woman got a phone call from a male friend in front of the defendant. Out of jealousy, he hit her in the head with a bottle, and later threw a car seat with her child strapped into it, prosecutors allege.
“(Expletive) you and your baby,” he reportedly told her.
In December, he strangled the woman during an argument, according to the charges.
The defendant has no felony convictions, court records show.
On Friday, the man remained behind bars in the Snohomish County Jail with bail set at $750,000. He reportedly called the woman’s phone nine times while in jail, in violation of the no-contact order.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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