EVERETT — A Lynnwood teen has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing a man over a Honda Pilot.
The confrontation occurred Dec. 30 north of Lynnwood.
The Honda belonged to a man who had lent it to his brother days earlier, according to the charges filed Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
The Honda had changed hands several times since then, and the brothers heard it was parked outside the Newberry Square Apartments on Ash Way, court papers show. They went to get it back, bringing along a group of friends. Among them was Alexander Song, 22.
Someone in the group was carrying a sheathed machete, and Song may have been armed with a wrench, deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell wrote in the charges.
Song knocked on one of the Honda’s windows, and a shot was fired from inside the vehicle. Song was hit in the chest and killed.
The Honda took off, with a teenage girl at the wheel. The vehicle was found the next day at a gas station on 41st Street in Everett.
Witnesses soon identified the shooter as Pedro Montero, 19. The girl told investigators that Montero “asked her to take the blame for the shooting,” Cornell wrote.
Montero was arrested Jan. 1. He denied firing the gun, saying, “It’s not my body,” according to the charges. The weapon has not been recovered.
Detectives also obtained a judge’s permission to conduct a forensic analysis of his cellphone. Within an hour of the shooting, Montero had been searching the internet for related news coverage, Cornell wrote.
Montero remains at the Snohomish County Jail. The prosecutor asked that his bail be maintained at $1 million.
Montero is described as a gang member. He has a 2017 felony for a firearms offense, which involved a shooting in Everett.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.
