TACOMA — A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder after Pierce County prosecutors say he mistakenly shot and killed a friend while intending to fire at another target.
The News Tribune of Tacoma reports the teen pleaded not guilty Friday in the death of 17-year-old Jatarius Tolbert. He is being held on $1 million bail.
Court records show Tolbert was shot as he was hanging out in a Tacoma parking lot May 11 with other young men. Someone in Tolbert’s group fired a gun at a car as it passed, and his acquaintances told police someone inside the car returned fire.
Prosecutors say the state crime lab later determined the bullet that killed Tolbert came from a revolver police found on the suspect when they stopped a car he was in a few days later.
Detectives who interviewed the suspect reportedly said he was despondent over accidentally shooting his friend.
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