Youth Enters Innocent Plea In Party Killing

A Tacoma teenager has pleaded innocent to murder and assault charges in the shooting death of a 23-year-old woman at a party.

Bail for Derek Jovon Troy Spencer, 18, was set Tuesday at $500,000 by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan.

Spencer is accused of firing the shots that killed Maya L. Streeter at 2:15 a.m. Sunday and of assaulting three other people who accompanied her to the party in east Tacoma.

Prosecutors contend they have strong evidence linking Spencer to the shooting. Two of the victims positively identified him as the shooter, chief criminal deputy prosecutor Gerry Horne said.

Streeter and her friends were confronted by Spencer and several of his friends when she arrived at the party, according to court papers. The newcomers were told they were not welcome because they were members of a different gang, the papers said.

One of the newcomers said they had come only to party peacefully, but when he turned back toward the car in which they had arrived shots rang out.

Streeter was fatally struck in the chest. Police later found five bullet strikes on the car and half a dozen expended cartridge cases in the yard.