A man has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting and killing another man in a Tacoma parking garage.
The man, 18-year-old Amanuel Piyo of Kent, had his arraignment Tuesday afternoon in Pierce County Superior Court. He also is facing a charge of first-degree robbery.
The incident happened Aug. 7 at about 2 a.m. in a parking garage in the 2100 block of North 30th Street, The News Tribune previously reported. Police found the victim with gunshot wounds, and he was declared dead at the scene. Later that evening, police announced they had arrested the suspect, later identified at Piyo, after he arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds.
According to the Pierce County Medical Examiner's public portal, the victim was 23-year-old William Simon of Tacoma.
Simon's father, William Simon Sr., spoke during the arraignment, urging the court to set Piyo's bail "as high as humanly possible."
"Please make it difficult [for him to leave], because we want to see some justice. That's all we have now," Simon said. "Because as we sit, my son is in a dark locker in a Medical Examiner's Office right now, not even released to me yet. He was robbed by people he didn't even know. Somebody wanted a few hundred dollars and things and [expletive] took his life."
According to court documents, Piyo allegedly told officers shortly after the shooting that his mother was upset and "did not come to this country for him to be exposed to such hazards." Simon referenced that while speaking to the court.
"I recently learned of his out-of-country ties and I'm also really concerned for public safety," Simon said.
Court documents also say Piyo has a misdemeanor warrant out of Kent.
Court commissioner Barbara McInvaille entered a plea of not guilty on Piyo's behalf and issued a $1 million bail. McInvaille also ordered Piyo to surrender his passport so that, if he gets out on bail, he can't flee the country.
According to court records, police received the initial call at 2:03 a.m. When officers arrived, they gave first aid to Simon but declared him dead at about 2:28 p.m.
A witness at the scene told officers she had been with Simon all night, documents say. She said she, the victim and two other people had been driving around and ended up at a gas station at South Sprague Avenue.
At the gas station, Simon got into an argument with a man in a face covering, documents say.
"Both the victim and this male referenced gang affiliations and the witness confirmed that the victim had a gun," documents say.
Simon stepped out of the car, the witness told police, and went to the other side of the concrete wall. The witness then heard gunshots.
Police learned the garage had been used by teenagers to "gather and party," documents say. Other witnesses told detectives they saw a group of three to six people with a dark sedan in the garage, and found Simon showing off his handgun to the group, letting them hold it and take pictures with it.
The group of people later approached Simon and tried to steal his handgun, witnesses told police. Simon then drew his handgun and shot at least one of the people.
"The witness advised that the subjects shot the victim while near him, fled to cover and continued to shoot the victim, resulting in his death," documents say.
The group then got into the sedan and sped off, documents say. When police arrived, Simon had 8-9 gunshot wounds.
Camera footage later showed the sedan dropping Piyo off at a hospital, documents say, and Piyo was admitted to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the chest. Detectives later spoke to Piyo, who told them he came to Tacoma with "multiple friends he wouldn't identify," and said those friends left him at the parking garage because they were asked to leave.
Piyo denied being involved in the dispute, documents say, and said he didn't know how it started. He said he heard some commotion, ran towards the incident and was shot. He then told police someone transported him in a car to the hospital, but claimed not to know who that person was.
When detectives asked Piyo why he couldn't remember details of the incident, he claimed it's because he was drunk and traumatized by his injury, documents say.
Detectives then accused him of murder, to which Piyo allegedly replied, "Me? I don't believe I killed a man."
After detectives interviewed Piyo in the hospital, an officer outside his hospital room door said he heard Piyo speaking to someone over the hospital landline, documents say. Piyo allegedly told that person to get a lawyer and said, "I [expletive] up."