Wednesday, July 11, 2007


Jul. 11, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
A man who was arrested for allegedly wounding his ex-girlfriend and fatally shooting another man at a Seattle housing project Monday morning had been charged with domestic-violence assault against the same woman four years ago, but those charges were dismissed.

The suspect, 41, was arrested by Seattle police after he was identified by the critically injured woman, police said Tuesday.

Seattle police were called to a Yesler Terrace housing project in response to 911 calls Monday, shortly after midnight. There they found the woman, Tina Johnson, 26, with a gunshot wound to the back.

Johnson was conscious, according to court documents, and she directed police to a nearby apartment, where she said the suspect also had shot her uncle. The 66-year-old man found there was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died. He was identified Tuesday by the King County Medical Examiner's Office as Pedro Rodriguez.

Witnesses told police they saw the suspect and Johnson fighting at the back steps of her apartment just before the shooting, according to court documents. The Seattle Times is not naming the suspect because he has not been charged.

The victims and the alleged shooter were residents of Yesler Terrace but did not live in the same home, according to Virginia Felton of the Seattle Housing Authority.

According to documents filed in a 2003 case, the suspect was charged with second-degree domestic-violence assault for hitting Johnson after a neighbor called police to report an argument.

In that case, police found Johnson wandering down Yesler Way, crying, disheveled and injured, court documents say. She had scratches on her neck and arms and her face was starting to swell, the documents say.

'I just wanted to get my things and leave, and he beat me up and choked me out,' she told police after the 2003 incident, according to court documents.

The man allegedly admitted that he'd hit Johnson once because she was 'tearing up his house,' the court documents allege.

The second-degree assault charge was dropped four months after it was filed. In dismissing the charges, a King County prosecutor wrote that through an 'extensive investigation and consultation with the victim, it is not in the best interest of justice to proceed at this time.'

A no-contact order that prohibited the man from coming within 500 feet of Johnson also was lifted at that time.

Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, said Tuesday he could shed no light on the reason for the dismissal. He said the man's 2003 case file could not be accessed Tuesday night, and the prosecutor who had made the filing decision on that case was no longer with the office.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or  cclarridge@seattletimes.com


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