3 men charged with firing at cars, killing teen outside Pierce County smoke shop
Antoinne Pierre Miles Jr, 18, Jayshaun Cordell Shepherd, 18, and Joseph Ralphael Morgan, 18, have been charged with first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree assault in the April 12 shooting. Prosecutors also charged Miles with first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm because he has a previous conviction for second-degree robbery, according to court documents.
All three men are accused of shooting a man and Marco Teran, who died from his injuries four days later.
Pleas of not guilty were entered on behalf of Miles, Shepherd and Morgan during their respective arraignments at Pierce County Superior Court Thursday afternoon.
Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set Shepherd and Morgan's bails at $1.5 million, with Miles' bail at $2 million.
At one point during Miles' hearing, McInvaille reprimanded him for laughing as state prosecutor Elizabeth Vincent began her arguments for conditions of release.
'Mr. Miles, this is not funny,' McInvaille said. 'This is a very, very serious proceeding.'
Tacoma officers were dispatched at 10:06 p.m. to the 4300 block of East Q Street for reports of gunshots. Twenty-five shell casings were found scattered in the area, according to charging documents.
Ring video footage from a home showed two people near where the shell casings were found. Documents show the video quality was poor.
Soon after, officers were dispatched to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma where two people with gunshot wounds had arrived. The man had a gunshot wound in the arm that was non-life threatening. Teran was shot in the chest and had to be rushed to surgery because he could not speak, documents show. He succumbed to his injuries a few days later.
The surviving victim told police he was with his two friends and Teran in a vehicle going into the drive-thru of the War Pony XPress Smoke Shop near the 4200 block of Portland Avenue when they were shot at, documents show. The shooters kept firing at them as the driver drove away, later dropping him and Teran off at the hospital. The man also said he did not know who shot them.
Detectives learned later that during the time of the shooting a white Chevrolet GMT had been struck by the stray bullets. The driver was uninjured and told detectives the bullets might have come from a Salishan-area apartment near the smoke shop, documents show. When detectives went to the area, they found shell casings on the ground.
Surveillance footage showed a Chevy Malibu pull into the smoke shop's parking area. That car had three people in it that were later determined to be the alleged shooters, documents show. The Chevy pulled out after the BMW arrived.
Detectives believe the alleged shooters saw the BMW, pulled out and then drove across the street, documents show. They allegedly went out of the car and spread out along a dark tree line where they 'ambushed' the occupants of the BMW by opening fire. One of the alleged shooters reportedly had a fully automatic gun 'with rapid fire.'
Through the license plate of the Chevy, detectives learned it was rented out by one of the alleged shooter's relatives, documents show. Shepherd was allegedly identified as the driver of the car during the shooting.
Detectives also spoke to the other people who were in the BMW with Teran, and one of them said the vehicle had been shot at two days prior. Teran was in the vehicle during that time.
GPS data from the Chevy showed the vehicle was in the parking lot of the smoke shop just before the shooting, documents show. The driver then parked where the three alleged shooters fired gunshots towards the smoke shop. The Chevy then drove off and went to a home on East 66th Street where Miles lived.
Documents show Morgan and Miles had been arrested together in Fife on May 12 for shoplifting ammunition from Sportco. All three men also seemed to have similar neck/throat tattoos since the shooting, according to detectives.
They were arrested at Miles' home Wednesday. After they allegedly saw police arrive, the men ran inside but eventually surrendered, prosecutors wrote. 12 guns were found in the home and one of them appeared to have been modified so it could convert to a fully automatic weapon.
Prosecutors wrote the investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed.
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