Teen Enters Innocent Plea In Shooting

A Seattle teenager charged with fatally shooting a 7-year-old girl through the wall of a Rainier Valley flophouse has pleaded innocent.

Tony Combs had agreed to a deal prosecutors and his attorney had ironed out, but changed his mind at the last moment Tuesday.

“I don’t want to plead guilty,” he told King County Superior Court Judge Patricia Aitken, who was just about to accept his plea.

Prosecutors had agreed to reduce the charge from first-degree murder to second-degree murder in the shooting of Angelica Robinson.

Both charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. But Combs faces a mandatory minimum 20 years if convicted of first-degree murder.

Combs was one of three youths charged with taking part in the Aug. 11 shooting. All three were ordered tried as adults.

Lavelle Cotton, 14, of Seattle was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced last week to 20 years in prison. Royce Hendrix, 15, of Seattle also was convicted of first-degree murder and awaits sentencing.

Prosecutors said the teens went to the flophouse seeking revenge on a man who had allegedly cheated Hendrix out of $100 worth of cocaine.