Brothers to be tried as adults in Seattle homeless killings

SEATTLE – Two of three teenage brothers accused of last week’s deadly shooting in the homeless encampment in Seattle known as “The Jungle” each have been charged as adults with two counts of first-degree felony murder, King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg announced Thursday.

The boys, James Taafulisia, 17, and Jerome Taafulisia, 16, will be prosecuted in adult, or superior, court “due to the seriousness of the crimes,” Satterberg said during a news conference. They also have been charged with three counts of first-degree assault as well as firearms charges.

The third brother, 13, will be prosecuted in juvenile court on the same charges, Satterberg said. He called the younger boy a “full participant” in the slayings and said prosecutors will seek to have him held in juvenile confinement until he is 21 if convicted.

The Seattle Times generally does not identify juvenile suspects unless they are charged as adults.

Satterberg said the two older boys would be held at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

The Taafulisia brothers are accused of opening fire on a group of people at the homeless encampment south of downtown Seattle on Jan. 26 to settle a $500 drug debt owed to their mother, Seattle police allege in an affidavit of probable cause outlining the case against the brothers.

Witnesses identified the Taafulisia brothers to police, who then employed informants to record conversations in which they acknowledged the shooting, police wrote in the affidavit. The brothers also sold a .45-caliber handgun, one of two weapons used in the shootings, to an informant, police say.

Satterberg said the investigation will also determine whether the boys’ mother could face criminal liability in the Jungle shootings. She’s regarded as a possible witness.

“The investigation into her role in this is continuing,” he said. “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.”

Killed were Jeannine L. Zapata, 45, and James Quoc Tran, 33, who had reportedly gone to the Jungle to visit friends. Three others – a man and two women – survived and remain hospitalized.

One witness said the shooters were apparently after drugs and cash and had targeted a homeless man known as “Phats.”

Police allege James Taafulisia was armed with a .45-caliber handgun and Jerome Taafulisia carried a .22-caliber handgun when they went to the camp just after 7 p.m. on Jan. 26, according to the affidavit. The 13-year-old brother told the informants he was at the Jungle during the shootings, although it’s unclear whether he took part in the shootings.

Police say the Taafulisia brothers took about $100 worth of black-tar heroin and $200 or $300 in cash.

One informant told police the boys had said they had gone to the Jungle to collect a drug debt for their mother, police said in the affidavit.

Police said they are familiar with the family and say that some in their group may have been involved in a homicide in October, according to the affidavit. Police did not provide additional details about the slaying.

During the news conference, Seattle Assistant Police Chief Robert Merner said investigators also are looking into the brothers’ possible connection to a string of violent crimes in the city’s Sodo neighborhood.

According to the affidavit, police say the boys could be connected to an unsolved homicide in October, but Merner said Thursday it’s too early to link the brothers to the crime.

The victim, Damon Maurice Brown, was shot Oct. 9 on Fourth Avenue South, directly across the street from the homeless camp where the boys were arrested Monday. There have been no arrests in the case.

Satterberg said the boys were familiar with the Jungle and were able to move freely around the homeless encampment. He said the .45-caliber handgun used in the shootings had been stolen in a 1976 burglary in Seattle.

The shootings have added a sharp edge to the city’s ongoing dialogue over how to confront homelessness, recently highlighted by Mayor Ed Murray’s declaration of a state of emergency. Murray was giving a speech on the topic when he got word of the shootings.

“It’s time to envision a Seattle without the Jungle,” Satterberg said during the news conference.

Satterberg said conditions at the Jungle were “worse than Third World,” with crimes “vastly unreported.”

All three Taafulisia brothers had been reported missing to Seattle police last year and have criminal records as juveniles, according to court records. All three have been wards of the state, but have run away from state Department of Social and Health Services custody, Satterberg said.

In September, the 13-year-old was stopped by a Seattle police officer in Pioneer Square and repeatedly gave a false name, but was identified as the missing youth by fingerprints, court records say. The boy finally acknowledged he lied “because he hates going to jail,” the records say.

In February 2014, Jerome Taafulisia was charged with robbery for stealing a backpack from a fellow middle school student while armed with a Taser, court records say. Last February, he and a couple friends carjacked a taxicab in SeaTac, threatening the driver with what turned out to be a pellet gun and leading police on a pursuit that he later told an officer “was fun and exciting,” according to the records.

James Taafulisia, who was charged last year with making false statements to a police officer, has previous convictions for robbery and theft, primarily committed in 2012 when he was 14, court records show.

The two older brothers have each been sentenced to 15 to 36 weeks in custody for their previous crimes, according to court records.