Teen Charged in ‘Vigilante’ Style Killing of Man Who Allegedly Assaulted His Sister: Prosecutor

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The 17-year-old has been accused of looking for, and fatally shooting his sister’s boyfriend after she told police that her boyfriend strangled her.

A Washington teen has been charged in the killing of a man accused of abusing his sister in “an act of pure vigilantism,” according to court documents filed by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

On Jan. 29, a woman called police to report that her boyfriend of five to six months had assaulted her by strangulation and caused her to lose consciousness, according to a probable cause statement by a detective in the sheriff's office. Police say the woman told them a domestic violence incident started when she confronted her boyfriend about his poor care of her daughter, according to the probable cause statement.

When Shoreline police officers arrived at the woman’s home, the boyfriend, identified as Robert D. Anderson, had already left the scene, according to the detective's statement. As deputies spoke to the woman, her mother and 17-year-old brother arrived. 

Deputies say the brother appeared to be very angry, saying, “Where he at, where he at,” and later slammed his hand into the refrigerator, according to the probable cause statement. The teen left the apartment, according to the probable cause statement.

An officer reported overhearing his mother talking to someone on the phone and saying something to the effect of, “I told him not to do anything stupid and to let the police handle it,” according to the court document.

As the woman was transported to a hospital, officers in the area searched for Anderson.

It was initially believed that Anderson had taken the woman’s Jeep Cherokee but when an officer located the car and stopped it, they found her 17-year-old brother behind the wheel and an unidentified male in the front passenger seat, according to the court document.

The teen allegedly told officers that he was looking for Anderson. An officer told him that he should not be doing so and that he should instead be with his sister at the hospital, according to the probable cause statement. The unidentified male with the teen allegedly told police that he was trying to calm the teen down before police released them, the probable cause statement alleges.

Around two hours later, officers responded to a report of a man on the ground with blood near his head. Authorities identified the deceased man with a gunshot wound to his head as Anderson.

Camera footage from a nearby apartment complex showed Anderson standing on a sidewalk when a Jeep Cherokee approached, the statement alleges. Video captured what looked like a muzzle flash from outside the driver’s window and Anderson collapsing to the ground, according to the probable cause statement. Ring video camera from a residence across the street captured the sound of six gunshots, according to police and an officer reported that the Jeep in the video was similar to the car registered to the teen’s sister.

Authorities later located the Jeep registered to the woman who reported the assault at the residence of her mother and brother, according to the probable cause statement. An officer who had seen the surveillance video noted that the Jeep at the residence had a pink license plate holder and a large dangling item from the rear-view mirror, “both of which were consistent with the observations of the shooter’s vehicle in the surveillance video,” according to the probable cause statement.

The teen’s mother later turned over a “Glock-like handgun” to police, the probable cause statement alleges. It did not have a serial number, making it a “ghost gun,” according to authorities. Preliminary results indicated that the gun appeared to be the gun used to shoot and kill Anderson, according to the probable cause statement.

According to the probable cause statement, the mother told police that her son was protecting the family but would not specify what that meant. 

The teen has been charged with first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree.

“The defendant was warned at a minimum by his mother, two police officers, and a friend not to seek out Mr. Anderson and that the police were actively looking for him. He either willfully chose to ignore them, or he lacked sufficient volitional control to calm himself enough to avoid acting out violently. Either way, his actions were cold, premeditated, and lethally violent,” the prosecutor’s office alleges in court documents filed in connection with its request that bail and other conditions be set.

A judge set the teen’s bail at $1 million on Monday and he is now in custody, a prosecutor's spokesperson said, according to The Seattle Times.

The teen's lawyers did not respond to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment.

The teen is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 15.

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