webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2010
All rights reserved
From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Oct 28 2010 - 08:45:23 EDT
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013270770_shooting28m.html
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - Page updated at 08:16 PM
WA. DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS
Tomas Afeworki
CLIFF DESPEAUX / THE SEATTLE TIMES
The suspect in Tuesday evening's shooting at 2nd Avenue and Pike
Street, identified by authorities as Tomas Afeworki, is arrested at
Zaina Food, Drinks and Friends restaurant, near 1st Avenue and Pike
Street, Oct. 26, 2010 in Seattle.
Suspect in fatal shooting downtown held on $2.5M bail
By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
About 15 minutes before he was gunned down in a busy Seattle
intersection on Tuesday, Michael Yohannes called his sister because he
had just been in a heated argument with another man.
Yohannes, 31, was upset, but he wasn't too descriptive about what was
going on, she said. He was downtown waiting for his girlfriend to
finish her shift at work, Helen Yohannes said.
When Helen Yohannes tuned in to the local news after getting off the
phone, she learned there had been a shooting at Second Avenue and Pike
Street. She said that she feared her brother had been slain.
Her fears were confirmed when another sister soon heard from Yohannes'
girlfriend that he had been killed, a family friend said.
Seattle police say that surveillance videos from businesses located
near the shooting scene show Tomas Afeworki, 27, walking up to
Yohannes at 4:42 p.m. and shooting him in the head. When Yohannes
collapsed on the pavement, Afeworki fled, police said. He was arrested
a short time later inside Zaina, a nearby restaurant.
Afeworki, of Lynnwood, was ordered Wednesday to remain at the King
County Jail on $2.5 million bail for investigation of homicide.
Prosecutors have until Friday to charge him in King County Superior
Court.
King County prosecutors asked District Court Judge Eileen Kato to hold
Afeworki on $5 million bail because of the violence of the crime, and
because the shooting happened in the middle of a busy downtown street
at rush hour. Defense attorney Christopher Swaby requested $1 million
bail.
Even if Afeworki is able to post bail, he will not be released because
he is accused of violating his state Department of Corrections (DOC)
probation for being arrested in connection with the shooting. Afeworki
has been under DOC supervision for a second-degree-assault conviction,
according to law-enforcement officials.
He had been reporting regularly to his community-corrections officer
and wasn't due to report again until next Wednesday.
A motive for the shooting has not been released by police.
Investigators say they are looking into whether it could be
gang-related. It also wasn't immediately known if the phone call
Yohannes made to his sister had anything to do with the shooting.
According to the King County Medical Examiner's Office, Yohannes died
of a gunshot wound to the head.
"I love him; this just hurts me," said a family friend who would
identify herself only as Debbie, out of concern for her safety. "He
had the best heart in the world. He would do anything for you,
especially to keep a smile on your face."
Yohannes moved to the Seattle area after fleeing Eritrea as a child.
Growing up here, he ran into trouble with drugs and crime and even
served time in prison, Debbie said on Wednesday. Yohannes has two
young sons and was making an effort to be there for them, she said.
"He was trying to get back on track," Debbie said.
Afeworki was convicted of burglary, three counts of unlawful
imprisonment and three counts of misdemeanor assault by a Snohomish
County jury in September 2005. He was sentenced to six years and three
months in prison for forcing his way into a Lynnwood apartment where
he and another man held three women at gunpoint and demanded drugs or
money.
The men erroneously believed that the women were drug dealers but the
women didn't have drugs or money, Snohomish County prosecutors said.
One of the women picked up a telephone and told the men she was
calling someone who did have drugs and money, but she actually called
911.
Afeworki also has convictions in King County for drug possession,
second-degree burglary and illegal possession of a firearm.
According to charging paperwork filed in King County Superior Court in
a separate case, Afeworki forced his way into a friend's apartment and
demanded money at gunpoint. The woman told Afeworki she would pay him
within several days and he left the apartment. Afeworki pleaded guilty
in 2005 to second-degree burglary and illegal firearms possession, in
the case, court filings said.
Seattle Times news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.
Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----