EVERETT — It didn’t take long for Anthony Mangan’s path to end behind prison walls.
He was 15 when he was convicted of three felonies in juvenile court. Less than a year later he was sent to a juvenile lockup after Marysville police caught him with a stolen gun — an incident that nearly got him shot by a detective.
A short time after he returned home, 16-year-old Mangan was arrested for shooting up a Marysville house. Four people were inside at the time. No one was injured. Prosecutors charged Mangan with first-degree assault with a firearm — an offense that sent the teen into the adult court system.
A Snohomish County judge recently sentenced Mangan to 14 years in prison. He is 17.
It was a low-end sentence for someone with Mangan’s criminal history convicted of assault with a weapon. He hadn’t spent more than six or so months behind bars before the sentence was handed down.
Mangan may be allowed to stay in a juvenile detention center until his 21st birthday. Then he’ll be off to adult prison.
His family pleaded with the judge to show leniency. They worry what kind of man Mangan will become spending such important and formative years locked up.
“Anthony’s childhood was taken from him. I pray his adulthood where he will learn and grow the most won’t be stolen too because of some mistakes he made as child,” his aunt wrote the judge.
Another aunt wrote a letter, explaining Mangan’s early years. He grew up around young adults who led misguided lives “full of chaos, drugs and violence,” the woman wrote. She told the judge she wasn’t making excuses for her nephew’s actions but offered some insight into Mangan’s path.
She also told the judge she bears some of that responsibility. He looked up to her and her family and she let him down, the woman wrote. She shared that she, too, had been in prison. It didn’t help her become a better person, the woman wrote. Drug and mental health treatment made the difference in her life.
Court documents detail efforts by the juvenile court to change Mangan’s trajectory.
A drive-by shooting was reduced to second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in 2015. Mangan was ordered to serve 10 days in detention and do 56 hours of community service. He also was on probation for six months. He was ordered to get counseling and go back to school.
He had been expelled when the school district learned that he’d been arrested for a firearm offense. His mother wrote a letter to court, explaining how difficult it was to find a school that would take Mangan because of the criminal charge.
The drive-by shooting case was pending when Mangan was arrested for burglary and drugs. He and some other young people broke into a friend’s house, stealing clothes and shoes. The victim told police they also robbed him of his wallet and marijuana.
Mangan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more community service.
By the end of 2015, Mangan was hauled back in front of a judge for violating his probation. He tested positive for drugs and wasn’t attending his outpatient counseling sessions, according to court records.
Mangan was arrested again in early 2016, an offense that landed him in state juvenile detention.
A neighbor had called 911 when he spotted Mangan holding a gun outside his house. Dispatchers were told the teen had put the gun in his waistband.
Officers found him, but Mangan ignored commands to keep his hands away from his waist. He ran from the officers. The gun fell to the pavement as Mangan tripped and he was reaching for the gun as a detective approached.
The detective explained in his report how his index finger was on the trigger of his service weapon as a 16-year-old reached for a stolen gun.
“I pointed my gun at (the teen) and started to slowly pull back on the trigger yelling, ‘Stop,’ ” the detective wrote.
The Marysville boy thought better of grabbing the gun and instead ran for home. The detective “released the tension” from his trigger finger.
Mangan later told police he was reaching for drugs, not the weapon.
Police found a .40-caliber handgun lying in the middle of the road where the boy had tripped. There were eight rounds in the magazine. The gun had been stolen in Mukilteo.
There was no probation when Mangan was released from the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration.
The teen was back in the Denney Juvenile Justice Center by the summer of 2016 for shooting at a house. Prosecutors opted to charge him with first-degree assault with a firearm, guaranteeing that Mangan’s punishment would mean significant prison time.
Witnesses said Mangan had argued with a man earlier in the day at the 7-Eleven on Shoultes Road. The man told police that Mangan had broken into his house and they stopped talking after the incident.
That night Mangan fired multiple shots at the man’s house. A surveillance camera from a nearby house recorded the shooting.
One of his aunts told the judge that she and Mangan had talked about changing course. He laughed at her, telling her she didn’t understand.
“But there were also times he confided in me and said he didn’t want this but he can’t get out because it’s his life,” the woman wrote.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
